Q Talk

[lcmel]

On a recent thread, a poster claimed that Lisa and Rick make $1million per yr. Can that be true? Seems awfully high. And Rick doesn't even seem to be front and center much. Would think David would be the more valuable male commodity

[terrier3]

Who said that David doesn't also make money in that range?

I was just repeating what a host told me and some of our on air news talent at a lunch.

[terrier3]

From NY Times in 1998...thanks to another poster...

On 10/12/2014 Vickie00 said:

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/30/nyregion/ex-hosts-to-sue-qvc-network-charging-bias.html

This is from 1998!! An excerpt below:

The lawsuit offers a rare, behind-the-scenes glimpse of the lucrative home shopping networks. QVC, which is based in West Chester, Pa., near Philadelphia, is the nation's largest network, followed by the Home Shopping Network in St. Petersburg, Fla., and the Minneapolis-based Valuevision. QVC earned over $2 billion in sales in 1997, according to the company's Web site.

Ms. Rubin said that hosts are paid a fixed salary no matter how much they sell. But Mr. Velez, a 34-year-old from Astoria, Queens, who is now pursuing an acting career, said yesterday that hosts are under pressure to sell. A host's salary is not formally based on sales commissions, he said, but contended that sales volumes affected raises, bonuses and contract renewals.

Mr. Velez said that as a late-night host, he earned $80,000 a year. Some hosts working the prime-time periods earned over $500,000, he said, because of their higher sales totals.

[depglass]

What is this obsession with income? We were taught it wasn't polite to discuss it, let alone ask a host directly what they made.

[terrier3]

On 10/12/2014 depglass said:

What is this obsession with income? We were taught it wasn't polite to discuss it, let alone ask a host directly what they made.

The on air news talent I had lunch with (along with the QVC host) knew that some hosts started out in local news (Shawn worked in that market for a while).

They wanted to know how salaries compared - shopping channels vs. news talent.

That was a perfectly legitimate question to ask.

The host gave a range - not anything specific to any host.

[lcmel]

On 10/12/2014 depglass said:

What is this obsession with income? We were taught it wasn't polite to discuss it, let alone ask a host directly what they made.

For people in the public eye, it is commonplace that salaries would be known. We hear in the news about a news person or athlete negotiating a contract, we know what actors get paid for films or tv shows, politician salaries and those of ceo's are general knowledge - so no I don't think it is rude to discuss the same for Q hosts

[Tinkrbl44]

WHY would people think this is "high"?

You can safely assume that anyone in SALES has some sort of commission / bonus structure, based on performance.

Example ...... if you were a sales person that was responsible for, say, $100 million in sales in a year, a mere million in commission would seem paltry.

Just FYI, millionaires in the United States are largely comprised of SALES people.

Obviously, it depends what you sell, but I'm very surprised that anyone is surprised.

[lcmel]

On 10/12/2014 Tinkrbl44 said:

WHY would people think this is "high"?

You can safely assume that anyone in SALES has some sort of commission / bonus structure, based on performance.

Example ...... if you were a sales person that was responsible for, say, $100 million in sales in a year, a mere million in commission would seem paltry.

Just FYI, millionaires in the United States are largely comprised of SALES people.

Obviously, it depends what you sell, but I'm very surprised that anyone is surprised.

But in a sense these host jobs are retail jobs - and so $1million for a sales associate at Saks or Macy's would seem very high. Plus these hosts are not solo when doing the show- they have an army of people working with them - more so then the sales people you are referring to

[MoJoV]

On 10/12/2014 depglass said:

What is this obsession with income? We were taught it wasn't polite to discuss it, let alone ask a host directly what they made.

I don't think it's an "obsession" more like curiosity. And any public figure is subject to that. And the hosts are certainly public figures.

[GSPgirl]

Kathy Levin said they earned a 3 figure salary and they are not on a commission. However, I wouldn't be surprised if they don't earn bonuses and stock.