Anderson Cooper Leaving 60 Minutes — Turned Down Offer to Renew His Deal With CBS News

Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

Anderson Cooper is leaving 60 Minutes after turning down an offer from CBS News to renew his contract, reported Breaker’s Lachlan Cartwright on Monday.

Cooper, who also anchors his AC360 show weeknights on CNN and is a correspondent for the cable news network, has been a correspondent with 60 Minutes for nearly two decades. His reports for 60 Minutes have been nominated for multiple Emmys, winning four.

He was reportedly on CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss’ short list for the next anchor to helm CBS Evening News, but now, according to Cartwright, Cooper has not only rebuffed Weiss’ efforts to recruit him to the evening anchor desk, he’s walking away from his role on 60 Minutes.

Citing sources “familiar with the matter,” Cartwright reported that Cooper had been offered a contract renewal, but “decided to pass,” and make his exit instead and not return for the fall season.

Cooper’s departure from 60 Minutes comes after a tumultuous year on the venerated television program, after several longtime staffers left, network brass pushed through a controversial settlement with President Donald Trump in order to help pave the way for CBS’s parent company Paramount’s merger with Skydance Media to get the administration’s approval, and Weiss’ decision to delay airing a segment on the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, abbreviated CECOT, a notorious maximum security prison in El Salvador where the Trump administration sent some undocumented immigrants in contravention of court orders.

Variety’s Brian Steinberg confirmed Cartwright’s reporting, noting that the end of Cooper’s tenure on 60 Minutes would also mean the end of one of show’s key promotion tactics, as his contract allowed him to use his segments on his CNN show as well.

“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.”

This is a breaking news story and has been updated.

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