Chris Evans, the presenter of Virgin Radio's Breakfast Show, was fired by the British station yesterday. The 35-yearold disc jockey, who has missed six days of his show, was in breach of contract, the company said.
The decision ends days of speculation about his future with Virgin, a station he once owned.
The company statement said: "It is not just the events of the last week, although his high-profile absence from work has obviously brought it to a head. Of course, we are all sad that it has ended this way but Chris clearly has not been focused on his show. We will have a new Virgin Radio Breakfast Show, hosted by Steve Penk, starting on July 9th."
The departure is expected to cost Evans millions of pounds under an agreement he made when he sold his Ginger Media company to the Scottish Media Group last year. He was entitled to be paid in three instalments of shares. The final one of 4.9 million shares, worth £12.8 million, is not due until January.
The terms of the deal say if he leaves the group "prior to the full vesting of his share tranches, and without the express consent of SMG, he forfeits the right to receive any outstanding entitlement."
Evans failed to turn up for work a week ago after a drinking binge with his wife Billie Piper and friends. Since then he has been drinking in a succession of pubs, even though the station had been told he was absent due to illness.
Rival DJ Chris Tarrant, who hosts Capital FM's breakfast show, said: "In a very strange way he's made an awful lot of people aware of radio, so it will be sad not to have him around. If he's not there I'm going to miss him."