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CBS Evening News anchor Norah O'Donnell will be exiting after the 2024 presidential election, CBS' parent company, Paramount, announced on its official website on Tuesday (July 30).
"We just celebrated an amazing five years together. I love what I do, and I am so fortunate to work with the best journalists and people in the business," O'Donnell said in a message shared with the staff. "Together, our team has won Emmy, Murrow, and DuPont awards. We managed to anchor in-studio through COVID; we took the broadcast on the road from aircraft carriers to the Middle East, and around the world. We were privileged to conduct a historic interview with Pope Francis. There's so much work to be proud of!"
"I have spent 12 years in the anchor chair here at CBS News, connected to a daily broadcast and the rigors of a relentless news cycle. It's time to do something different. This presidential election will be my seventh as a journalist, and for many of us in this business we tend to look at our careers in terms of these milestone events," she added.
O'Donnell, 50, will transition to a senior correspondent role, which will include feature interviews and reports for other shows including 60 Minutes. The veteran anchor took over as the CBS Evening News anchor in 2019 and re-signed with the network in 2022 amid prior speculation of her future with the company.
O'Connell's salary was reportedly slashed from the $8 million she initially agreed to upon and the show's ratings have seen an estimated 25% decrease since she took over, placed significantly behind ABC and NBC, according to the New York Post. Paramount's announcement comes one month after CBS News president Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews stepped down amid reported cost-cutting efforts.
Paramount Global is reportedly expected to slash an estimated total of $500 million ahead of its expected merger with Skydance Media, according to the New York Post.