CBS News disputes $50 million loss claims, says division is profitable

CBS is pushing back on a report that its news division is losing a staggering $50 million annually, insisting the unit remains profitable.

“A published report that CBS News is losing ‘around $50 million a year’ is inaccurate. In fact, the division is currently profitable,” a CBS spokesperson told Digital. 

Puck News reported on Wednesday that CBS News is losing “around $50 million a year,” citing “two sources familiar with the news division’s finances.” The claim came just weeks after reports that CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” was losing $40 million a year amid its announced cancellation.

However, Puck’s Dylan Byers took to social media on Thursday with an update, noting CBS pushed back and suggesting the discrepancy stems from “nuances in the accounting that deserve further exploration.” 

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CBS’ parent company, Paramount, merged with Skydance Media in an $8 billion transaction earlier this month. The company’s new owner, David Ellison, made CBS News his first stop once he was handed the keys to Paramount, a sign CBS News staffers interpreted as him prioritizing the house that Walter Cronkite built despite potential budget cuts.

CBS and Paramount did not immediately respond when asked about a report that the $50 million figure was leaked to justify possible cuts. New Paramount president Jeff Shell has said upcoming layoffs will be “painful,” but promised they’d be done swiftly to avoid staggered quarterly cuts.

CBS News president and executive editor Tom Cibrowski, who joined the company in March, has a lot on his plate. Both of the network’s marquee news programs, “CBS Mornings” and “CBS Evening News,” routinely finish in third place behind ABC and NBC rivals in the ratings.

Guy Campanile, a longtime “60 Minutes” producer who was moved to “CBS Evening News,” is returning to “60 Minutes” after the revamped nightly newscast with co-anchors John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois failed to boost ratings. 

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CBS anchors Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson. (Screenshot/CBS News)

“CBS Evening News” averaged 3.8 million viewers during the week of Aug. 11, while ABC’s “World News Tonight” averaged over 7 million viewers and “NBC Nightly News” drew 5.7 million. 

The network has had a tumultuous year, much of it involving President Donald Trump’s massive lawsuit against CBS and Paramount. Trump accused CBS News of “election interference” over the network’s handling of its “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, which aired the month before the 2024 election. 

Shari Redstone, Paramount’s former controlling shareholder before the Skydance merger, voiced her stance in favor of settling Trump’s lawsuit, hoping it would clear the path for the multi-billion-dollar sale, which could have been halted by Trump’s FCC. The FCC approved the transaction shortly after Paramount settled Trump’s lawsuit last month. 

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“CBS Mornings” has regularly finished behind its network competition. ( Michele Crowe/CBS News)

The settlement caused consternation among CBS staffers. Tensions further escalated after CBS announced it was pulling the plug on Colbert’s progressive late-night show, calling it a purely financial decision. 

The cancellation outraged liberal critics, who accused CBS of bending the knee to Trump, but Puck News later reported that “The Late Show” was losing more than $40 million a year for CBS and had a budget of more than $100 million per season. The show will go off the air next May.

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Longtime “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens and CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon both exited the company earlier this year ahead of the merger. Tanya Simon, a 25-year veteran of “60 Minutes,” will serve as the new executive producer of the program.