Gayle King to Stay With ‘CBS Mornings’

Gayle King will stay with “CBS Mornings” for the foreseeable future as part of a new deal she has signed with CBS News, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The Wall Street Journal previously reported on King’s renewal of her deal with the Paramount Skydance unit.

“Rumors of my demise were inaccurate and greatly exaggerated,” King said in a statement, a referral to a Variety report from October that said she had been expected to depart the program at the end of her current contract, which ends in May. At the time of the report, people familiar with negotiations said indications had been made that King would exit the morning show and potentially work for the company in another arrangement, such as a production deal. Since that time, talks with King have broadened, and people familiar with discussions said options including a role as a special correspondent or a final year as host were among scenarios being considered. “CBS News is my longtime home, and I am committed to our mission. I’m excited about continuing at ‘CBS Mornings.’  As always, I’m open to new adventures here and ready to go. It took a minute, but we got there.  And now that we are here, I am all in.”

King’s decision to stay is a win for Bari Weiss, the editor in chief of CBS News, who recently lost Anderson Cooper, a stalwart contributor to “60 Minutes” for about two decades. King in recent weeks had appeared irked by scrutiny being paid to CBS News, which has generated more attention since Weiss, an opinion journalist with little experience managing a mainstream media operation, joined last year. “I just wanted to say something about working at CBS,” King said at a town hall meeting in January. “You know, I think we’ve all been walking around with gasoline on our pants.”

King’s decision to stay, however, may have financial ramifications for CBS News. King has been pulling a salary of around $14 million a year, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, and “CBS Mornings” has been shedding viewers. For the five days ended March 27, the show lured a total audience of just under 1.78 million , according to data from Nielsen. Meanwhile, NBC’s “Today” captured around 3.2 million and ABC’s “Good Morning America” lured an average of around 3.1 million. “CBS Mornings” attracts just 22% of the overall audience that watches morning-news programming on any of the three broadcast networks.

The show has also been shedding advertising dollars. Advertisers put approximately $131.8 million against “CBS Mornings” in 2024, according to data from Guideline, a tracker of ad spending. But in 2025, ad revenue tied to the program fell to about $119.2 million.

There may be a sense among executives that King can be deployed across a greater number of outlets now that Paramount Skydance has secured a deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. That acquisition will put CBS News and CNN under the same corporate umbrella, along with networks like Discovery Channel and Food Network that rely heavily on unscripted programming. Warner Bros. Discovery also owns OWN, a network devoted to content inspired by Oprah Winfrey, a longtime friend of King. King in 2023 co-hosted a weekly primetime hour on CNN with basketball great Charles Barkley, called “King Charles.”

“There is only one Gayle King. We’re so proud that she’ll continue to call CBS home. We’re thrilled to have her on in the morning—and equally excited to work with her on new, enterprising projects that bring her talents to new audiences.” said Weiss, in a statement.

CBS News is considering a range of options to boost the fortunes of its morning program. At a town hall held in January, Weiss indicated she would dispatch Tom Cibrowski, the president of CBS News and a longtime ABC News executive who played a significant role in boosting “Good Morning America” over “Today” for a period of time, to work on the show.

In prepared comments, Cibrowski appeared to indicate that the show would stand by its current hosts, King and Nate Burleson. He called the duo “fantastic partners,” adding: “We are  excited to continue to evolve CBS Mornings and can’t wait for what’s to come.”