Paramount said on Monday that it was buying The Free Press, a digital news site founded as an alternative to traditional news organizations, and appointing its co-founder, Bari Weiss, as the editor in chief of CBS News.
The purchase price was roughly $150 million in cash and Paramount stock, according to two people familiar with the terms who spoke on condition of anonymity. The total amount will be paid out over time, and it may fluctuate depending on the price of Paramount’s stock.
The deal ushers in a new era for CBS News, the storied home of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite, that has new corporate leadership at Paramount. Ms. Weiss, 41, has never run a TV network, and in her role will have influence over hundreds of producers, anchors and reporters around the world. She will report to David Ellison, Paramount’s chief executive, and work alongside Tom Cibrowski, the president of CBS News.
The deal is also a major victory for Ms. Weiss and The Free Press, a site started just four years ago. Ms. Weiss positioned the publication as a bulwark of honest journalism in what she has described as an increasingly timid and untrustworthy media landscape. It now has more than 50 employees and offices on both coasts and has attracted some well-known journalists.
In a letter to Free Press subscribers Monday morning, Ms. Weiss said that her new role at CBS News would allow her to work on programs like “60 Minutes” and “CBS Sunday Morning” that are “shaping how millions of Americans read, listen, watch, and, most importantly, understand the news.”
She added: “It gives The Free Press a chance to help reshape a storied media organization — to help guide CBS News into a future that honors those great values that underpin The Free Press and the best of American journalism.”
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