Paramount Ousts CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon

CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon announced on Monday that she will resign. Paramount Global Control of shareholder Shari Redstone.

Paramount Global Co-CEO George Cheeks spoke with McMahon on Saturday and asked her to resign, according to people familiar with the matter. McMahon agreed to resign, and the Paramount Global Board held a Sunday meeting when members realized the decision, according to people who spoke about the terms of anonymity to discuss internal issues.

A spokesman for McMahon, Paramount Global and CBS News declined to comment.

“The past few months have been challenging,” McMahon wrote in his resignation to an employee. “It has become clear that the company and I disagree with the path forward. Now is the time for this organization to advance new leadership.”

In recent weeks, Paramount Global’s board of directors has been putting increasing pressure on their cheeks and McMahon to know certain details of “60 minutes” programming before airborne days, different from how the show worked in the past, according to people familiar with the issue. Veteran “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens resigned in April, saying Paramount Global had scrutiny of his editorial decisions had been violated by his journalistic independence.

“Parent company Paramount is about to complete the merger,” said “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Perry, which aired at the end of the April 27 episode after Owens resigned. “The Trump administration has to approve it. Paramount has begun to oversee our content in a new way. None of our stories are blocked, but Bill felt that he had lost the independence that honest journalism needed.”

“60 Minutes” aired the final episode of the season on Sunday. There will be no new episodes again until September. McMahon felt she had to fight to air “60 Minutes” in recent weeks, given the board’s preference for a certain story not being carried out, according to people familiar with her ideas.

McMahon was appointed CEO in August 2023.

There have also been some points of tension between McMahon and Redstone in recent months, including CBS’s reporting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a potential “60-minute” settlement with the Trump administration over compiling an October interview with then-presidential candidate and former US vice president Kamala Harris. Personally, people familiar with Redstone’s ideas say that Redstone criticizes McMahon for the issue of “equity and balance.”

According to people familiar with Redstone’s ideas, Redstone is also unhappy with CBS News performance in terms of McMahon’s leadership and business.

Paramount Global is seeking government approval to integrate with Skydance Media, run by David Ellison. The deal would pay more than $1.5 billion in redstone for her controlling stake in the company. She will not have a role in future merged entities.

The merger has been postponed by the Federal Communications Commission as negotiations between Paramount Global and the government continue the “60-minute” interview.

The Wall Street Journal, reported in April by the Wall Street Journal, is another point of competition between federal agencies and companies, as its corporate diversity initiative. FCC Chairman Brendan Kerr publicly urges media companies to curb diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

In February, Paramount said it would end DEI policies, banning executive orders by President Donald Trump from federal government practices and demanding agencies investigate private companies in the DEI program.

In October, Redstone publicly criticized McMahon’s decision to blame CBS News morning anchor Tony Docpile for an interview with author Tanehishi Coates. CBS News said during an interview that Dokoupil violated editorial standards when the host pressed Coates on why they didn’t include any more Israeli perspectives on the war in Gaza. Redstone said CBS News had made a “bad mistake.”

“I think Tony did a great job in that interview,” Redstone told an ad panel in New York in October.