John Oliver Could Become ‘One of the Highest-Paid Late Night Hosts in History’ in 2027

John Oliver is very much the golden boy at HBO and he’s using that to his advantage while renegotiating a new contract with the channel’s new parent corporation Skydance, a source tells Globe.

With the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger complete, the Last Week Tonight host, 49, and his team are “now engaging with HBO about the future” of the show, reveals the source. “Even with other late night franchises in decline, John’s audience is loyal and John knows they will follow him wherever he wants to go if he can’t nail down a renewal with HBO past 2027.”

In the last 12 years, Last Week Tonight has won 32 Primetime Emmys, including Outstanding Variety Talk Series and Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series.

“Netflix or Amazon would pay a mountain of money to have him on their streamers and everybody expects that by the time this process plays out, John is going to find himself as one of the highest-paid late night hosts in history,” spills the source, “which is pretty amazing since his show only runs once a week and only airs original episodes for half the year.”

Per Celebrity Net Worth, Oliver currently earns an estimated $30 million per season.

There is, however, a third option.

“John could just opt to walk away from TV entirely by the end of next year,” says the source. “But John is still so close to his crew, writers and producers that it’s hard to imagine him wanting to put any of those people out of work.”

Plus, “it would be a little nuts to bring this money train to a screeching halt when there is so much enthusiasm for John to keep doing what he’s doing,” the source notes.