Gary Lineker: What are his businesses and how much money does he make?

Match Of The Day presenter Gary Lineker has confirmed he will quit the long-running football show at the end of the season.

The former England striker, 63, will stop presenting for the BBC after covering the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

According to The Sun newspaper, he has not been offered a new contract by the BBC.

Here, the PA news agency looks at Lineker’s business interests and what the presenter earns:

Lineker has presented Match Of The Day for the BBC since 1999, after first appearing as a pundit on the football show and regularly topping the public list of the BBC’s highest earners during his role.

The BBC said in its latest annual report in July that Lineker earns between £1,350,000 and £1,354,999.

This came after he agreed to a pay cut as part of a five-year contract in 2020, having previously been paid around £1.75 million per year.

Lineker led the BBC’s coverage of the FA Cup and will continue to do so until the final of the 2025/26 tournament.

He has also led the BBC’s coverage of major international men’s football tournaments, including Euro 2024, and has regularly presented the BBC Sports Personality Of The Year awards.

The BBC said on Tuesday that Lineker will continue to present the hit podcast Match Of The Day: Top 10 for BBC Sounds.

He has previously worked for other TV channels including BT Sports (since rebranded as TNT Sports), Al Jazeera Sports and NBC Sports Network.

The former Leicester, Everton, Barcelona and Tottenham player is also the face of Walker’s chips.

Lineker has appeared in Walkers adverts since 1995 after originally signing a £200,000 contract with the Leicester-based company.

He signed a £1.2 million contract with Walkers in 2020, which meant he appeared in fewer adverts but was given more ambassadorial responsibilities, including for grassroots sports and plastic consumption.

In recent years, the host has seen his focus shift more towards his fast-growing podcast and media company.

Lineker founded production company Goalhanger Podcasts in 2014 with former ITV controller Tony Pastor and former BBC director Jack Davenport.

The company began producing documentaries such as Gary Lineker On The Road To FA Cup Glory for the BBC in 2015.

But the company mainly achieved success through its podcast division, which launched in 2019.

It produces The Rest Is History, a historical podcast hosted by Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland, launched in 2020.

The podcast has since become one of Britain’s most successful and has spawned a number of offshoots, including Rest Is Politics.

Lineker presents his own podcast, The Rest Is Football, alongside former players Alan Shearer and Micah Richards.

Goalhanger has said it is Britain’s largest independent podcast production company, generating tens of millions of listens worldwide every month.

It is understood that the podcasts have a revenue sharing model, with hosts of the main titles, such as Rest Is History, not receiving a salary, but each receiving a third of the revenue from their episode, while Goalhanger takes the other third for takes his account.

There is limited public information about the company’s finances, but recent Companies House accounts for Goalhanger show that it held £590,985 in capital and reserves with seven employees at the end of the financial year to May 2023.

Companies House also shows that Lineker is a director of GCGL Properties Limited.

Microcompany accounts show the company had £694,959 in current assets for the financial year to June 2023.

GCGL, which he owns with friend George Constand, bought a bungalow in Coulsdon, south London, last year and has since applied for planning permission to replace the property with a block of nine apartments.

Lineker owns a house in Barnes, south-west London, which is said to be worth around £4 million.

Lineker has had his tax affairs under review following a long-running case with His Majesty’s Revenue and Customers (HMRC).

The TV presenter was told that due to his presenting duties he should have been classed as an employee of the BBC and BT Sport and not a freelancer.

The tax authorities sued him for £4.9 million, which he claims should have been paid on income he received between 2013 and 2018.

But Lineker won the battle after insisting that all taxes on income were paid through a partnership set up in 2012 with his ex-wife Danielle Bux.