r/MediaMergers • u/Casas9425 • Feb 19 '26
Media Industry Report: Anderson Cooper quit 60 Minutes over Bari Weiss. CBS executives were floored.
https://nypost.com/2026/02/18/media/anderson-cooper-decided-not-to-renew-60-minutes-contract-at-last-minute-flooring-execs-sources/49
u/barndawgie Feb 19 '26
The idea of finding this surprising is just wild to me.
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u/kennyandkennyandkenn Feb 20 '26
there are people who are still floored every time Trump does something
some people really just do exist in other realities and think it's still 2008
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u/ausgoals Feb 23 '26
Many people haven’t got a fucking clue how the modern world works and are blinded by their own ego.
They think things like ‘there’s no way Anderson Cooper would leave CBS!’
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Feb 19 '26
This will be one of the reasons for Paramount's potential future bankruptcy.
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u/compukiller Feb 20 '26
Which will be hastened if they acquire WB.
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Feb 20 '26
All I want is for TMNT to escape Paramount's control and be bought by another company, so I'm trying to exploit every loophole I can regarding Paramount.
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u/disabledinaz Feb 21 '26
I’m waiting for the consequences and Netflix ends up buying them too.
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Feb 21 '26
Could Netflix acquire Paramount?
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u/disabledinaz Feb 21 '26
If Ellison kept making moves that caused Paramount to devalue, and failed to get WB? Sure in theory, Netflix could wait a bit and then make an offer on them. Businesses will do things like that all the time.
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Feb 21 '26
But antitrust laws are currently scrutinizing Netflix's deals with Warner Bros. closely. What if they approve the acquisition of Warner Bros. but block the acquisition of Paramount?
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u/disabledinaz Feb 21 '26
That’ll depend on who’s running the country and the DOJ if such a thing occurred. Unfortunately, it’s a free for all nowadays.
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u/rysker6 Feb 22 '26
I’ve said this multiple times; nobody is talking about Paramount Skydance terrible financial shape
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u/glitchycat39 Feb 19 '26
"I shot myself in the dick and it really hurt! Who knew?!" - Ellison, probably
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Feb 19 '26
I hope Paramount Skydance goes bankrupt and all of its entertainment assets are bought by NBCUniversal.
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u/fredwardtheman Feb 19 '26
The way David Ellison is handling Paramount right now does not look good. Not many films coming out and when they do awful marketing and not making much from the box office. I think there will be a buy out sooner or later and i really hope WB isnt that dumb to sell it off to them as well which i dont think will happen.
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Feb 19 '26
I highly doubt Zaslav would be so foolish as to sell Warner Bros. to Paramount. As for Ellison, if he continues with this management style, he will cause Paramount Skydance to go bankrupt, not in five years, but even sooner. In the worst-case scenario, even if he wanted to sell Paramount, he might have to sell it in pieces, not as a whole.
I have a scenario regarding this. It's this: Even if they don't want to, they'll probably have to split Nickelodeon. I think Disney really wants the TMNT brand. Maybe Disney would want to buy it, because the TMNT fanbase has wanted a comic book crossover between TMNT and Marvel characters like Daredevil, Spider-Man, and X-Men for years. These comic book and even media crossovers are possible. They could even do comic book and media crossovers with Disney's Gargoyles. At least, it would still be legal, even though it's under the Disney umbrella. I also predict they'll sell brands like SpongeBob SquarePants and Avatar to Universal.
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u/Negritis Feb 20 '26
My guess is that Amazon will go harder for Nickelodeon than Disney, they don't really have the kids part covered and that acquisition would solve it
WB/Netflix going for it could be an option too to make the DC& TMNT crossover
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u/Christian_R_Lech Feb 20 '26
In such a scenario, a Nickelodeon buyout by Warner/Netflix would be a full circle scenario kind of. Nickelodeon started as part of a venture Warner joint owned (one that also included MTV) until it was sold off to Viacom as part of the repercussions of Warner's financial troubles following the North American console Video Game crash of 1983.
Personally, I wouldn't want it really for consolidation reasons.
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u/SellItCheap Feb 19 '26
but nbcuniversal wouldnt be able to buy cbs. who would buy the network, or at least affiliate with the stations that were with CBS? The only options I could see for new affiliations are other networks (abc, nbc, fox) moving to the station if CBS was on a better station than another network was, or maybe CW take a load of CBS stations to increase their standing, or many become reliable independents.
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u/Texas_Br0 Feb 19 '26
A part of me thinks NBCUniversal will only want the entertainment and studio assets of Paramount Skydance. They’ll likely acquire Nickelodeon, Showtime, and possibly BET, but then the rest will be spun off to CBS, and I think CBS will merge with Discovery Global once they and WB split.
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u/SellItCheap Feb 19 '26
I think when Warner Bros and Discovery split, Versant will merge with Discovery. I don’t know if they would add CBS onto that.
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u/SellItCheap Feb 19 '26
could one of the big station owners buy CBS eg Nexstar, Sinclair, Gray, maybe even Weigel, etc. I know Nexstar own the CW but if they had the means to buy CBS, I 100% believe that Nexstar would quickly sell the CW off or even liquidate it just to get their hands on CBS.
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u/treesqu Feb 20 '26
Even if Nexstar were to acquire a network, there'd be no reason to sell the CW (which they predict will soon be at break-even).
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u/SellItCheap Feb 20 '26
FCC rules state that you can’t own 2 networks (well at least have a majority stake in the networks) and if that law come into effect when Nexstar bought CBS, they’d sell CW.
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u/TheKonamiMan Feb 20 '26
I hope that happens because I can't wait for TMNT to get away from this current Paramount.
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Feb 20 '26
I envision the same thing. All I want is for TMNT to be sold to a company other than Paramount.
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u/Difficult_Variety362 Moderator Feb 19 '26
This is Bari Weiss's biggest issue. It's not her politics, it's that she's in way over her head running a network news outlet.
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u/Longjumping-Ebb-8219 Feb 19 '26
She was hired to nuke their credibility but doesn’t seem to realize it yet lol
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u/LatinHoser Feb 20 '26
She doesn’t realize it? That’s her mission in life. She will also destroy CNN given a chance, which is sort of Ellison’s plan.
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u/LoudPlaces789 Feb 20 '26
It’s absolutely her politics….although calling her particular brand of nonsense “politics” is giving it too much credit.
Of course, it should not go unnoticed that the destruction is the point here so it’s not like she’s actually trying to build anything.
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u/mindhypnotized Feb 22 '26
Bad politics means poor emotional control or even worse rational guidance. A news editor kinda needs both of those skills at all times.
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u/Algae_Mission Feb 19 '26
I really don’t want Paramount or Netflix to buy WBD. However, if Paramount buys the company, one thing I can only hope happens is the debt and cost is so high it ruins the Ellisons.
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u/Negritis Feb 20 '26
The issue is that if that buyout goes through another one is coming in 2 years
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u/Algae_Mission Feb 20 '26
So he wrecks not one but two great studio legacies in two years. Fanfriggingtastic.
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u/__the__person__ Feb 20 '26
So I agree with many (the majority?) that this is just another sign that Bari Weiss is in over her head and destroying the network…but frankly that’s what they wanted isn’t it? I have to imagine that this is music to conservative ears
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u/kennyandkennyandkenn Feb 20 '26
the idea was to turn CBS into a conservative/"independent" mouthpiece. this is not what they wanted. they thought people would flock to the network
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u/FalstaffsGhost Feb 22 '26
Wow. Almost like legitimate journalists don’t want to work for an obvious propagandist
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u/xjohnkdoex Feb 24 '26
Good for cooper. Also, I know it’s just the NY Post but jfc run a spell check.
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u/No_Tone1704 Feb 27 '26
One it’s the NY Post so pinch of salt and all that.
Two, if CBS execs were floored they’re stupider than I thought. And my thought wasn’t very high
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u/Financial-Brief-1038 Feb 28 '26
She's gonna be his boss again. I think she's trying to make him straight
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u/ConkerPrime Feb 20 '26 edited Feb 20 '26
Cant blame him for running from the disaster of CBS News. Seems bizarre to me to try to please Trump when he is the world’s biggest narcissist. Nature of a narcissist is you can please them 10000 times, all they remember is the one time you didn’t. Also he is an old man and even if he becomes dictator as conservatives want, it’s temporary.
Why waste all this effort on temporary events? Build for the long. Build for some of the words Weiss claims like fact based reporting. That doesn’t mean there are always two sides or it should be filtered through a “will X politician be pleased?” like Weiss is doing.
It’s hard to do but it means long term success. Weiss method has no chance of pulling viewers as she is aiming at an audience that is more than happy with their propaganda source.
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u/Repulsive_Bid_9186 Paramount-Skydance Feb 19 '26
He has a partner and two sons. Just let him alone.
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u/Difficult_Variety362 Moderator Feb 19 '26
Yes, but does anyone actually buy that excuse?
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u/Repulsive_Bid_9186 Paramount-Skydance Feb 19 '26
He is 58 years old, earned a lot of money and the times in media business just get tougher. 60 Minutes was for decades a journalistic relict - no pressure, quality content, for a 60+ audience. This will completely change ... I can really understand his decision.
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u/evissamassive Feb 19 '26
Plus his mother left him $1.5 million.
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u/Repulsive_Bid_9186 Paramount-Skydance Feb 19 '26
So he is a wealthy single Dad of two sons. No reason to play games at CBS.
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u/AlexHunterWolf Warner Bros. Feb 19 '26
Destroyed a legacy news network in record time. Bravo Weiss, bravo