Simon Cowell is leaving American Idol

Simon Cowell announced today that he's leaving American Idol to focus on his new show The X Factor, which Fox has already picked up for the Fall 2011 season. If you've never seen The X Factor, picture an episode of American Idol. Now call it The X Factor. There ya' go. From THR:

Fox chairman Peter Rice and entertainment president Kevin Reilly officially announced the "Factor" pickup and Cowell's "Idol" departure today at the Television Critics Association's winter press tour in Pasadena.

"In my opinion it's like having a good player on a good football team," Cowell told the critics. "But when the player retires the team will continue to be very successful. I'm confident 'Idol' will continue to be the No. 1 show. I want to leave 'Idol' this year bigger and better than it's been before."

The U.S. version of "X-Factor" will be a similar format to the UK version, with Cowell acting as judge and executive producer. The other judges will be announced shortly, Cowell said.

Of course this all boils down to money. Simon makes $36 million a year on Idol and rumor is producers offered him between $100 and $144 million (roughly the GDP of the Marshall Islands) to stay on after his contract expires in May. It's estimated that American Idol makes $900 million a year. Simon owns 0% of American Idol. Simon owns 100% of The X Factor so he stands to make hundreds of millions if it's successful. With the price of islands nowadays, you can't really blame him for the move. Incidentally, my first job out of college I made $27,000 and I would often steal ketchup packets from the break room. Fuck you Simon Cowell.

[WENN]