Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on July 18, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
David Rhodes may return to lead CBS News if the Paramount-Skydance merger is approved, potentially replacing current president Tom Cibrowski.
(Reuters) -David Rhodes, Sky News executive chairman and former CBS News head, is in talks to run CBS News again if the Skydance acquisition of the broadcaster's owner Paramount Global closes, digital news website Puck reported on Friday.
Rhodes, who was president at CBS from 2011 to 2019 and previously spent a decade with Fox News, has emerged as a likely successor at CBS News, where he may be advised by Bari Weiss, co-founder of online news outlet Free Press, Puck said.
The New York Times reported last week that Skydance Media CEO David Ellison had held preliminary talks to acquire Weiss' Free Press as well.
Tom Cibrowski is the current president and executive editor of CBS News.
Reuters could not immediately verify the Puck report. CBS News, Paramount, Skydance and Sky News did not respond to requests for comment. Rhodes did not respond to a request for comment on LinkedIn.
On Thursday, CBS canceled "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," the most-watched late-night program on U.S. broadcast television and a frequent platform of satire aimed at President Donald Trump.
CBS said the show will end its 10-year run in May 2026 and described it as "purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late-night."
CBS-owner Paramount Global is seeking approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission for an $8.4-billion merger with Skydance Media.
Paramount earlier this month agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by Trump over an interview with his former Democratic challenger, Kamala Harris, that CBS's "60 Minutes" broadcast in October.
(Reporting by Kanjyik Ghosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Philippa Fletcher)
David Rhodes is the executive chairman of Sky News and the former president of CBS News from 2011 to 2019.
Tom Cibrowski is currently the president and executive editor of CBS News.
CBS announced the cancellation of 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' as a financial decision, citing challenges in the late-night landscape.
Paramount Global is seeking approval from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission for an $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media.
CBS News, Paramount, Skydance, and Sky News did not respond to requests for comment regarding the report on David Rhodes.
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