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"&lt;img alt=\"0209_matt_lauer_tmz_EX\" src=\"http://ll-media.tmz.com/2012/02/09/0209-matt-lauer-tmz-ex.jpg\" /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Matt Lauer&lt;/strong&gt; has softened his position about leaving \"&lt;strong&gt;Today&lt;/strong&gt;\" in December&amp;#160;at the end of his contract -- that is, if NBC antes up a record amount of money.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br dir=\"ltr\" id=\"tinymce\" class=\"mceContentBody \" contenteditable=\"true\" /&gt;Sources connected to NBC tell TMZ ... Lauer was done with \"Today\" and wanted out -- but the word at the network is he will now re-sign if NBC ponies up way more than the $17 mil he's currently making.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We're told negotiations are now ongoing -- but if NBC agrees ... Lauer could score as much as &lt;strong&gt;$30 MILLION&lt;/strong&gt; a year.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As for why the change of heart -- there are two schools of thought according to network sources. Some say Lauer changed his mind when network execs made it clear they were extremely interested in tapping &lt;strong&gt;Ryan Seacrest&lt;/strong&gt; as Matt's replacement -- in other words, he got a little jealous.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;But there's another school of thought -- that Lauer has wanted to re-sign all along and just played the \"I'm leaving\" card to score a bigger pay day.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;As for whether Lauer is worth $30 mil ... to put it in context, \"Today\" makes roughly $450 million a year for the network ... more than any other show on NBC.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So we gotta ask ...&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=\"float: left;\"&gt;&lt;!-- relatedpoll --&gt;&lt;/div&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.tmz.com/2012/02/10/matt-lauer-today-contract/5/>