Paramount said 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 the 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, which has new corporate leadership at Paramount. 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 CEO, and work alongside Tom Cibrowski, the president of CBS News.

“We are thrilled to welcome Bari and The Free Press to Paramount and CBS News,” Ellison said in a statement. “Bari is a proven champion of independent, principled journalism, and I am confident her entrepreneurial drive and editorial vision will invigorate CBS News.”

Major Victory for Weiss, The Free Press

The deal is also a major victory for Weiss and The Free Press, a site started just four years ago. 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, Weiss said 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.”

Weiss is joining CBS News after a tumultuous period at the news division. President Donald Trump sued Paramount last year over an interview that “60 Minutes” conducted with Kamala Harris, then the vice president running for president, accusing the show of distorting her remarks to present her in a more favorable light.

Tensions at the news division escalated as Paramount entered into mediation with Trump to settle the lawsuit. Bill Owens, the executive producer of “60 Minutes,” stepped down in April, citing encroachments on his journalistic independence. Wendy McMahon, the president of the division, was forced out soon after.

Accusations Build Against Paramount

Paramount’s settlement with Trump also led to accusations that the company was trying to curry favor with the Trump administration. At the time, Paramount was seeking to merge with Skydance, a movie studio run by Ellison, and the deal required approval from federal regulators. The merger was blessed in late July, about three weeks after the settlement.

Ellison, who took control of Paramount in August, has started to shake up CBS News, though he has told employees that he does not intend to alter the network’s fundamental mission. In a news conference with reporters in the days after the deal closed, Ellison said the news organization wanted to appeal to the 70% of Americans who define themselves as center-left or center-right. “We want to be in the truth business, we want to be in the fact business,” Ellison said.

Since then, Paramount has hired Kenneth R. Weinstein, a former CEO of the Hudson Institute, a right-leaning policy think tank, as an ombudsman, with power to review complaints about the network. CBS has also changed its rules for handling some political interviews after pressure from the Trump administration.

Weiss cofounded The Free Press in 2021 after quitting The New York Times, where she had worked for the opinion section. She said she was leaving because of “constant bullying by colleagues” and an “illiberal environment.” She started the site with her wife, Nellie Bowles, who is also a former employee of the Times, and her sister, Suzy Weiss.

In the years since, The Free Press has amassed roughly 1.5 million free and paid subscribers with its against-the-grain editorial approach and opinion columns on business, politics and international affairs.

Notable stories include an opinion column from Uri Berliner, a former senior editor at NPR, accusing that organization of left-wing bias, and a first-person account from a former senior producer and correspondent of NowThis — a news organization known for its viral social media videos — about the organization’s environmental coverage.

The Free Press also has its critics. Berliner’s essay was met with rebuttals from many employees at NPR, including “Morning Edition” host Steve Inskeep, who wrote that it contained “many sweeping statements for which the writer is unable to offer evidence.” A writer for The Nation, a progressive magazine, wrote that The Free Press publishes “pro–establishment bilge” that allows wealthy Americans “to pretend that they are actually besieged outsiders.”

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Benjamin Mullin, Lauren Hirsch and Michael M. Grynbaum/Vincent Alban
c. 2025 The New York Times Company