On October 6, 2025, Paramount announced the acquisition of The Free Press, the subscription media company founded by Bari Weiss, for a reported $150 million. Paramount did not confirm the terms. As part of the deal, Weiss was named editor-in-chief of CBS News, a newly created position at the network.
The Acquisition
Paramount, owned by Skydance Media following a merger completed in August 2025, positioned the acquisition as bringing together CBS News’ reach with The Free Press’ subscriber-focused approach. At the time of the deal The Free Press had roughly 170,000 paying subscribers and about 1.3 million free newsletter subscribers.
New Leadership Structure
As editor-in-chief, Weiss reports directly to Paramount CEO David Ellison and partners with CBS News President Tom Cibrowski. The Free Press maintains its independent brand and operations, with Weiss continuing to lead both organizations. This marks the first time CBS News has had an editor-in-chief position.
Background and Context
Weiss, who resigned from The New York Times in 2020, launched her newsletter “Common Sense” in 2021 before expanding it into The Free Press media company in 2022. The acquisition comes after Paramount settled a $16 million defamation lawsuit with Donald Trump over a “60 Minutes” segment and follows promises by Skydance leadership to embrace diverse political viewpoints at CBS News.
Industry Impact
The appointment generated significant discussion within CBS News, with reports of staff concerns about the direction of the newsroom. To introduce The Free Press to broader audiences, the publication lifted its paywall for a “Free Week” from October 6-12, 2025.
Substantial change followed at the news division. Roughly 100 employees were laid off in October 2025. A new CBS Evening News anchor was installed in January 2026. In December 2025 Weiss held a 60 Minutes investigation of El Salvador’s CECOT prison; it was broadcast largely unchanged in January 2026 after internal objections became public, with correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi saying the decision to hold it had been political rather than editorial. During 2026 the 60 Minutes executive producer was replaced by an outside hire, and correspondents Alfonsi, Cecilia Vega and Scott Pelley left the program. Pelley said he had been asked to introduce bias into a politically sensitive story; CBS said the changes proposed to his piece were intended to make it accurate and fair.