Chris Wallace advising private equity firm that – Business News
Former Fox News and CNN anchor Chris Wallace is being paid as an advisor to the private equity firm that just lately purchased CBS — the identical community his father labored for as a “60 Minutes” correspondent, in line with a report.
Wallace, the 77-year-old newsman — son of legendary “60 Minutes” bulldog Mike Wallace and stepson of CBS News government Bill Leonard — has quietly signed on as a senior adviser at RedBird Capital Partners, the New York Times reported.
Wallace, who walked away from CNN final 12 months after an unsuccessful stint marred by low rankings, now studies on to RedBird founder Gerry Cardinale, in line with the Times.
Chris Wallace (seen left with Stephen Colbert on Oct. 3, 2024) is advising the company that purchased a stake in CBS’s company mum or dad. CBS through Getty Images
The firm put in $2 billion to affix Skydance, the Hollywood outfit run by David Ellison, in shopping for CBS’s mum or dad, Paramount, following the Trump administration’s approval of an $8 billion merger.
That places Wallace, who by no means truly labored for CBS past a school internship and a short gig at a native Chicago affiliate within the Nineteen Seventies, in a place to affect the identical information division his well-known household helped construct.
“I want to help him in any way I can,” Wallace instructed the Times when requested about Ellison. He confirmed to the Times that he has spoken straight with the 42-year-old media inheritor who now controls CBS.
Inside the community, his sudden proximity to the new boss has fueled hypothesis about how CBS News could be reshaped after years of turmoil.
The community was rocked during the Trump period when Paramount was pressured to cough up $16 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the president over the enhancing of a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
Though many legal consultants mocked the go well with as frivolous, the case triggered bitter infighting between Paramount executives and the journalists who produced the piece.
Wallace now studies on to RedBird founder Gerry Cardinale. Redbird owns a stake in Skydance, run by David Ellison. From left to proper: Paramount President Jeff Shell, Cardinale, Ellison, Paramount government George Cheeks and Andy Gordon. CBS
Now, with Skydance on the helm, staffers are bracing for Ellison’s imaginative and prescient, which is prone to embrace appreciable downsizing and cost-cutting.
David Ellison, the son of Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, has cozied up to Trump socially and even explored shopping for The Free Press, a digital upstart based by Bari Weiss that skewers mainstream information retailers like CBS.
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That pedigree has some insiders whispering about a potential political tilt. Wallace pushed back exhausting on that notion.
“I am absolutely convinced that any talk about the new owners wanting to move CBS News in a particular political direction is absolutely mistaken,” Wallace instructed the Times.
He stated Ellison desires “a news organization that lives up to the tradition of Cronkite and Murrow and my dad.”
Wallace is the son of the late “60 Minutes” star correspondent Mike Wallace. REUTERS
Wallace appeared to brush off issues voiced by present “60 Minutes” correspondents that the new company house owners will exert undue affect on the show’s information content material and editorial selections — saying that it wasn’t something new.
“In the early years, and in fact for years thereafter, it was routine that executives of CBS News would screen pieces and comment on them and expect their comments to be acted on,” Wallace stated.
“I’ve been a little surprised at this notion that somehow ‘60 Minutes’ is an independent entity that isn’t part of CBS News.”
Wallace’s own résumé runs throughout each main community. He coated the White House for NBC, spent almost 20 years internet hosting “Fox News Sunday,” and jumped to CNN in 2021.
Wallace’s much-hyped leap to CNN ended with a whimper.
The veteran anchor, who reportedly raked in $7 million a 12 months, by no means managed to ship an viewers to justify the price tag.
His two exhibits, “Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace” and “The Chris Wallace Show,” limped together with simply 500,000–750,000 viewers an episode, numbers that had been anemic by cable information requirements. Those viewership numbers, nonetheless, are increased than the rankings presently pulled by CNN primetime anchors.
In the important thing promoting demographic of 25-to-54-year-olds, Wallace usually scraped by with solely 85,000 viewers.
Chris Wallace dismissed issues that the new house owners of CBS News would search to maneuver the community in a new political direction. AP
Executives pulled the plug after the 2024 election, axing each packages as half of a cost-cutting drive. Wallace was instructed he may keep on at a sharply lowered wage as a community analyst — however he declined.
Wallace, who was introduced on to helm the lineup at streaming service CNN+ earlier than it was cancelled simply a month after going dwell, stated his exit was a likelihood to chase “new opportunities” in podcasting and digital media.
After leaving CNN final 12 months, Wallace toyed with launching a podcast or impartial information enterprise however shortly misplaced curiosity.
When requested if there was a likelihood Wallace may return to the air beneath the CBS umbrella, he instructed the Times: “At this point, that isn’t something that’s in the cards.”
He then added: “But having said that — and to mix a metaphor — who knows when an old fire horse wants to answer the bell?”
Wallace, Redbird and Paramount declined to remark.
