Anderson Cooper Set to Exit CBS News’ ’60 Minutes’

Anderson Cooper is poised to exit CBS News‘ “60 Minutes” after nearly 20 years of contributing to the program, according to a person familiar with his thinking, the latest blow to the revered Sunday-night newsmagazine after it has been undermined repeatedly by management at Paramount Skydance and its predecessor company.

CBS News was unable to make executives available for immediate comment.

“Being a correspondent at ’60 Minutes’ has been one of the highlights of my career. I got to tell amazing stories, and work with some of the best producers, editors and camera crews in the business,” Cooper said in a statement. “For nearly twenty years, I’ve been able to balance my jobs at CNN and CBS, but I have little kids now and I want to spend as much time with them as possible, while they want to spend time with me.”

Cooper was said to be in negotiations with CBS about a renewal in recent weeks, but opted to put more of his focus on activities at CNN. In addition to his long-running 8 p.m. program at the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed network, Cooper also hosts a podcast centered around discussions of grief that has become increasingly popular, and hosts a Sunday longform programed called “The Whole Story.”

Breaker, a newsletter centered on the media industry, previously reported Cooper’s intention to leave. Cooper late last year signed a deal to extend his stay at CNN.

Cooper’s decision to leave may have been a difficult one. People who know the journalist say one of the true joys of his career has been the ability to cut himself free from breaking news and focus on deeper reportage for a program that is devoted to longer-form storytelling.

His departure would pose a new blow to CBS News under the tenure of its editor in chief, Bari Weiss. Since arriving at CBS News last year, installed at the unit’s news leader after Paramount Skydance acquired her conservative opinion site, The Free Press, for a reported $150 million, Weiss has worked to overhaul the operation — but has also made a number of gaffes. One of those was a decision to delay a “60 Minutes” report by correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi on the violent circumstances of migrants deported by the U.S. — not because it contained errors, but because Weiss wanted a Trump administration official to comment on camera, even though Alfonsi had previously sought a response. The report surfaced on “60 Minutes” several weeks later.

Weiss has also worked to cut the staff at “CBS Evening News,” and is mulling additional staff reductions with a set of layoffs that could comprise at least 15% of the staff of CBS News overall. Her efforts so far have given rise to a level of mistrust between her management team and the CBS News rank and file.

“60 Minutes,” which features profiles and features along with investigative pieces, has seen its credibility subverted over the past two years as corporate managers failed to defend it from what was largely considered to be a nuisance suit from President Trump over the editing of a 2024 interview with then-Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Paramount, eager to clear a path to a sale of the company from the Redstone family, former controlling shareholders, to the Ellisons, who now operate Paramount Skydance, agreed to pay a $16 million settlement to Trump.

As a result, two senior CBS News executives — Bill Owens, the executive producer of “60 Minutes” and Wendy McMahon, the former CEO of CBS News, local stations and syndication — suggested in remarks that they could no longer push back against corporate mandates they felt would weaken the newsroom. Three people familiar with the show say there have been calls for “60 Minutes” to cut back on the number of hard-news or investigative segments it runs, and pay more attention to features and celebrity profiles, which corporate managers believe will generate more attention online.

Cooper appeared on “60 Minutes” Sunday night, during its “Last Minute” segment, a short end note that has been part of the telecast since 2022. Whether that cameo marked his last appearance in the program’s current season, its 58th, remains to be seen.

When Cooper leaves, he will take with him a valuable means of promoting the newsmagazine’s stories. For years, CBS has allowed Cooper to run his “60 Minutes” segments during his CNN show.