CBS News denies ‘inaccurate’ Puck report it’s – Business News
CBS News is denying a bombshell report which mentioned the community was hemorrhaging round $50 million yearly — a declare the community aggressively shot down as “inaccurate.”
The controversy started on Wednesday when Puck correspondent Dylan Byers dropped a gorgeous merchandise claiming two sources accustomed to CBS News’ funds revealed the purported losses.
According to Byers, CBS News’ ailing stability sheet wouldn’t sit nicely with its new boss, Skydance Media CEO David Ellison, whose company acquired company guardian Paramount Global for $8 billion.
Ellison “certainly isn’t going to tolerate those losses,” Byers wrote in Puck.
CBS News is forcefully denying a Puck News report claiming the division is bleeding $50 million a 12 months. Bloomberg through Getty Images
“And despite his paeans to Walter Cronkite and the importance of a free press, he isn’t likely to invest in growing that business, either.”
But sources at CBS News instructed The Post that the Puck report was utterly off base.
“A published report that CBS News is losing ‘around $50 million a year’ is inaccurate,” a spokesperson for the division instructed The Post.
“In fact, the division is currently profitable.”
Puck correspondent Dylan Byers ignited a firestorm together with his report on CBS News’ funds. Getty Images for SXSW
Industry insiders instantly seized on Byers’ scoop as a signal that the new management crew helming CBS News would embark on a cost-cutting spree, in response to the Status publication.
On Friday, The Post solely reported that Skydance is making ready to enact a large “bloodbath” of layoffs throughout Paramount in November
A $50 million annual loss would just about guarantee brutal finances slashing at CBS News, which issued a denial much less than 24 hours after Puck revealed its story.
Unnamed community staff instructed Status that they believe the bogus $50 million determine was intentionally planed with Byers to be able to justify impending cuts.
Skydance Media CEO David Ellison, who now oversees Paramount and CBS News, is claimed to be eyeing main value cuts. AFP through Getty Images
Byers refused to retreat from his bombshell report. After posting CBS’s denial on social media, he doubled down with cryptic warnings about accounting “nuances that deserve further exploration.”
“60 Minutes” stays profitable, Byers famous, however “the rest is… complicated.” He promised to deal with the controversy in his subsequent publication.
The Post has sought remark from Puck and Byers.
Byers reported that Ellison’s plan “is to right-size CBS News, bring down talent salaries, require smaller teams to work on smaller budgets, maybe leverage evergreen ’60 Minutes’ packages on Paramount+, and hopefully lure Bari Weiss into the mix to shake things up a bit.”
It’s been reported that Weiss, a former opinion editor for the New York Times, has been purchasing her information web site, The Free Press, for up to $250 million.
Newly put in Paramount President Jeff Shell has additionally reportedly been speaking up potential cost-cutting measures at CBS News. REUTERS
According to Byers, Weiss, who has reportedly held discussions with Ellison about promoting The Free Press, could also be on her approach to the Tiffany Network to take up a senior post on the information division.
“As of this week, the new Paramount front office remains bullish on the Bari deal,” in response to the Puck correspondent.
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The timing of Byers’ merchandise couldn’t have been worse for the embattled community, which is already reeling from company guardian Paramount’s resolution to axe “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in mild of reviews the late-night program was bleeding $40 million yearly.
Both the struggling show and information division fall beneath the purview of Paramount government George Cheeks, doubtlessly placing him on the helm of almost $90 million in mixed annual losses if each figures proved correct.
The new management crew in charge of Paramount is claimed to be eager on bringing in Bari Weiss. Getty Images for Uber, X and The Free Press
Jeff Shell, the newly put in president of Paramount, has been telling colleagues that cost-cutting ranks amongst his prime priorities as Ellison’s lieutenant.
Last week, Shell, The former NBC Universal government, mentioned he expects $2 billion in cuts in a single fell swoop.
“We do not want to be a company that has layoffs every quarter,” Shell mentioned final Wednesday in Los Angeles, citing fixed waves of cuts beneath Paramount’s earlier management.
“So, it’s going to be painful. It’s always hard, but we don’t want to be a company that every quarter is laying people off. It is important for us to get done what we’re doing in one big thing and then be done with it.”
