The News of the World yesterday claimed Gervais had been lured by a large paycheque by Radio 1, which had originally wanted him to host a daily programme.
The newspaper said he had signed a weekend contract, although no other details are yet available.
Gervais hosts a popular Saturday afternoon programme on Xfm with his comedy writing partner Stephen Merchant. The pair took a break this year to work in Los Angeles, where an American adaptation of their hit series 'The Office' is being made. Gervais has a long-standing relationship with Xfm, having first worked at the guitar and dance music station in 1997.
His departure will come as a blow to Xfm, which also lost one-time weekend presenter Dermot O'Leary to the BBC and Zane Lowe to Radio 1, where he now hosts the key 8.00pm-10.00pm slot from Tuesday to Thursday.
O'Leary, best known for fronting Channel 4's 'Big Brother's Little Brother', is hosting a programme on Radio 2 on Saturdays between 2pm and 4pm.
In the most recent radio audience survey, Rajar said Radio 1's audience had slipped from 9.85m listeners in the first quarter of the year to 9.73m. Radio 2 posted a record audience, up by 530,000 listeners from the previous quarter to 13.4m.
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