Paramount, owner of CBS and its Weiss-led news division, is finalizing a $111 billion deal to purchase CNN’s parent company.

Anderson Cooper told CNN colleagues he doesn’t want to work for Bari Weiss: Report

Paramount, owner of CBS and its Weiss-led news division, is finalizing a $111 billion deal to purchase CNN's parent company.

By Kathleen Perricone

June 29, 2026 4:58 p.m. ET

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Anderson Cooper; Bari Weiss. Credit:

Mike Coppola/Getty; Mary Kouw/CBS via Getty

- Anderson Cooper has reportedly told CNN colleagues that he doesn't want to work for CBS News boss Bari Weiss.

- Paramount, which owns CBS, is finalizing a $111 billion deal to purchase CNN's parent company, raising concern that Weiss will also oversee CNN.

- In May, Cooper left *60 Minutes* amid upheaval at the newsmagazine related to Weiss.

As CNN faces a possible shakeup, Anderson Cooper is reportedly one of the many concerned staffers.

The former *60 Minutes* host has told colleagues that he doesn't want to work for Bari Weiss should the CBS News boss be placed in charge of the network, according to *The* *New York Times*. CBS owner Paramount is finalizing a $111 billion purchase of CNN parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, fueling concern that the upheaval at CBS News will carry over to CNN.

A representative for CNN declined to comment on Cooper, and reps for Paramount and CBS did not immediately respond to **.

The host of CNN's *Anderson Cooper 360* since 2003 announced his departure from *60 Minutes* in February, four months after Weiss, conservative founder of *The Free Press*, took over as editor-in-chief of CBS News.

Cooper signs off '60 Minutes' for last time on May 17.

"Being a correspondent at *60 Minutes* has been one of the great honors of my career," the Emmy Award–winning journalist told EW at the time. "I got to tell amazing stories and work with some of the best producers, editors, and camera crews in the business. For nearly 20 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 still want to spend time with me."

On the heels of his final appearance with the newsmagazine on May 17, *60 Minutes* erupted into chaos as fellow correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega were fired along with executive producer Tanya Simon and executive editor Draggan Mihailovich.

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Ex-'60 Minutes' staffers slam Bari Weiss' changes: 'Facelift with a f---ing machete'

Alfonsi, whose segment about the Trump administration deporting Venezuelan men to a prison in El Salvador was abruptly pulled off the air in December 2025, slammed Weiss and CBS News leadership for "protecting power rather than scrutinizing it." Vega also alleged she had witnessed an attempt to "insert political bias into our stories" on *60 Minutes*.

Days later, Scott Pelley also received a pink slip after he accused Weiss of "murdering" *60 Minutes* during a heated staff meeting. "She does not love this place," Pelley said, according to the *NYT*. "She was brought in to kill it, and she's been doing exactly that."

Cooper, for his part, has not publicly criticized Weiss nor CBS News. But in his emotional goodbye to viewers last month, the journalist did express concern that "*60 Minutes* remains *60 Minutes*."

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"There's very few things that have been around for as long as *60 Minutes* has, and maintain the quality that it has," Cooper said. "Things can always evolve and change, I think that's awesome, and things should evolve and change, but I hope the core of what *60 Minutes *is always remains… The trust it has with viewers is critical to the success of *60 Minutes*."

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