Simon Cowell’s American Idol contract is up, and the infamously snarky judge wants more than last year’s $36 million to stick with the series – so Fox has reportedly offered the British national a whopping $144 million per year!

Contract negotiations between Cowell and Fox’s co-producers has been leaked to the press, and the figures involved – a sum too great to comprehend for most of us – are believed to be 100 % accurate.

Fox has declined to comment about the salary negotiations, but a source close to the Idol set has revealed that the sum Cowell is expected to receive is “only a fraction” of the estimated $900 million that the reality television show rakes in yearly. The source labeled Cowell as the “lynchpin of the show,” and said that without his “dramatic tension” with fellow judge Paula Abdul, Idol wouldn’t be the hit it is today.

“[Cowell is] due for a raise,” the source added.

Cowell’s current contract with the Fox-produced reality show expires in May next year.

[Source]