Late-night talk show host Jay Leno took a 50 per cent pay cut as part of the network’s cost-cutting regime, confirms NBC.

According to The Wall Street Journal, this means Leno will be taking home $15 million US from a show that had an annual budget of about $100 million. The network was seeking a 20 per cent budget cut.

Leno did, however, extend his contract to host The Tonight Show to May 2014.

Reports had surfaced around mid-August about Leno’s significant pay cut – around the time NBC was trimming its budget but actual numbers had never been verified until Sunday after the Wall Street Journal interviewed both Leno and an NBC executive.

According to NBC, 20 staff members from a roster of 200 were also cut from the program.

All chat shows are experiencing financial pains as audiences have shrunk and advertising dollars have also declined.

The Tonight Show’s annual ad revenue dropped from $255 million in 2007 to $159 million in 2011.

Leno told the Wall Street Journal that the quality of the show will remain and that he and his staff are “just going to work harder and more efficiently.”

The 62-year-old comedian took over the show 20 years ago. The network’s entertainment head, Robert Greenblatt, would not say if the performer had any end date for his run on the legendary show.

Greenblatt said that conversation hasn’t been brought up yet but it’s something for “down the road.”