NBC Confirms Leno Pay Cut

Jay Leno agreed to a 50 percent pay cut to save jobs on "The Tonight Show," NBC tells the Wall Street Journal, volunteering $15 million of his former $30 million annual salary.

It's a story leaked by the press last month. But NBC hasn't confirmed it -- nor have any specific numbers been mentioned -- until now.

Leno made the sacrifice, the report says, in response to an NBC mandate to slash his show's $100 million budget by 20 percent. Apparently because it still left a $5 million gap, however, 20 of the show's approximately 220 jobs were eliminated.

Plus: Must-see, new fall shows | New fall shows to avoid

An NBC exec claims that the budget cut was necessary to reverse increases made during "The Tonight Show's" brief and ill-fated shift to prime time in 2009, but that the late-night talk show is still profitable. (The WSJ notes, however, that "The Tonight Show's" average Nielsen rating shrank by five percent between last September and this August, a decline similar to that of most other late-night shows.)

Despite the apparent selflessness of his action, Leno has taken it on the chin from critics -- especially "America's Got Talent" judge Howard Stern, who last month on his Sirius Radio show claimed this story was a smokescreen concocted specifically to allow Leno to lay off 20 of his staffers.

"He’s embarrassed to do it," Stern said. "He didn’t want to come off as a bad guy. NBC took the hit for him, because they’re a corporation. My bull---- meter is going off all over the place."

"The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.