“On Monday night, we received a detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace by Matt Lauer,” Andrew Lack, the NBC News president, said in a memo to the staff, reported by The New York Times.
He said the allegation against Mr Lauer “represented, after serious review, a clear violation of our company’s standards. As a result, we’ve decided to terminate his employment.”
“While it is the first complaint about his behavior in the over 20 years he’s been at NBC News, we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident,” Mr Lack said.
In February Mr Lauer, who lives in New York with his wife and three children, was granted consent by the Overseas Investment Office to buy the lease and improvements of the 6468ha Hunter Valley Station beside Lake Hawea. The property has an estimated capital value of $13.2 million.
Mr Lauer and his wife Annette said in April they were looking forward to making a home in the Upper Clutha and to being good stewards of Hunter Valley Station.
"Annette and I have been coming to New Zealand for several years, and every time we visit, we feel lucky to be in a place of such endless beauty, inspiration and adventure," Mr Lauer said in the statement.
The couple’s purchase of the 6468ha pastoral lease from Taff and Penny Cochrane attracted criticism because of what some groups say is a lack of guaranteed access through the station into the Hawea Conservation Park and into the Hunter Valley itself.
Mr Lauer was one of the highest-paid news anchors in the world, earning between $US20 million and $US25 million ($NZ28 million to $NZ35 million).
He is among one of many whose careers have been hit by harassment allegations in the weeks since Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein was accused by numerous women of sexual assault. Last week, Lauer's morning rival on CBS, Charlie Rose, was fired after eight women told The Washington Post that he had acted inappropriately toward them over a number of years.
The post-Weinstein wave has brought down figures in the news, entertainment and political fields, and renewed discussion about allegations against President Donald Trump first raised when he was the Republican candidate for the office last year.
- reporting ODT with agencies
