We now know what it reportedly takes to keep a fired Fox News executive from spilling the beans on all the juicy inner workings at the network: about $8 million.
That's the figure that Gawker said Brian Lewis, the ousted former consigliere to Roger Ailes, was paid by Fox News in a recently uncovered settlement.
Gawker, which reported the figure on Monday, described the payment as "hush money." The site's report is just the latest in a long-running story of intrigue inside one of the most secretive and cutthroat companies in the media industry.
Lewis, who was Ailes' right-hand-man for years before falling out with him, was clearly a potential threat to Fox News and News Corp; as his lawyer told the media in a statement in June, "Roger Ailes and Newscorp have a lot more to fear from Brian Lewis telling the truth about them than Brian Lewis has to fear from Roger Ailes and his toadies telling lies about Brian Lewis."
News Corp has a history of giving its executives a big payout when they leave under something of a cloud; former British newspaper chief Rebekah Brooks, for instance, was paid a whopping $17.6 million when she resigned from the company.