“CBS Evening News” co-anchor Maurice DuBois is leaving the network amid a larger overhaul of the struggling news program.
He announced his exit Thursday on Instagram, saying his last day at the network where he worked for 21 years will be Dec. 18.
DuBois — who is best known for anchoring WCBS-TV in New York — nabbed the co-anchor spot at “CBS Evening News” with co-anchor John Dickerson last January.
“It has been the honor of a Lifetime,” DuBois wrote. “21 years altogether, including my time at WCBS-TV in New York City. What a privilege! To be welcomed in your homes night after night, delivering the news / meeting extraordinary people telling their stories.”
Dickerson revealed in late October that he was leaving the network at the end of the year— foreshadowing CBS News’ first round of layoffs, which hit days later.
Sources speculated that DuBois’ announcement likely signals CBS News’ second round of layoffs under new editor in chief Bari Weiss, which could roll out ahead of Christmas.
The “Evening News” was a ratings disaster, and top brass griped that the having two anchors was “clunky,” “awkward” and “lacked chemistry.”
Sources close to CBS News president Tom Cibrowski and Weiss said the duo have been focused on revamping the show and bringing in a new anchor to helm the program once anchored by legendary newsman Walter Cronkite.
“Maurice is deeply valued and respected as a journalist by all of us and we wish him much success,” Cibrowski said in a statement. “It is my hope that we can work together again. We will have more details on the next chapter of CBS Evening News in the near future.”
A rep for CBS News did not immediately return calls for comment on who will anchor the show. Internally, “CBS Mornings” co-anchor Tony Dokoupil has been aired as a possible replacement.
Norah O’Donnell, who anchored the “Evening News” prior to DuBois and Dickerson, has also been rumored for the spot, but sources close to Weiss and Cibrowski said that was doubtful.
Weiss has reportedly circulated ABC News correspondent Matt Gutman for the “CBS Evening News” anchor chair.
UTA super agent Jay Sures, who reps Dokoupil, Gutman and O’Donnell, did not immediately return requests for comment.
The Post previously reported on a looming shakeup at the struggling evening news program — which has lost about 1 million total viewers in a year.
According to Nielsen, the show has been averaging roughly 4.1 million total viewers for the season — suffering the steepest decline among rivals top-ranked ABC’ “World News Tonight” and NBC’s “Nightly News.”
Inside the halls of the Tiffany Network, the “Evening News” has been ripped for “how unwatchable it is,” with one former exec calling the show “rudderless.”
Although Dubois and Dickerson’s exits did not come as a surprise, the lack of an immediate announcement from CBS on their replacements is, sources said. One insider speculating that the network could use substitutes until a permanent host is named.
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