For 58 seasons, 60 Minutes has been the most trusted name in American broadcast journalism. It has brought down corrupt politicians, exposed corporate fraud, interviewed every sitting president, and earned more Emmy Awards than any other news program in television history. But right now, in June 2026, the show is in the middle of the most dramatic and painful crisis of its entire existence — veteran correspondent Scott Pelley was fired just days ago, multiple producers have been pushed out, and the question of who actually owns and controls this iconic program has never been more important or more contested.
Here is the complete, verified ownership story of 60 Minutes — from its very first broadcast on September 24, 1968, to the explosive headlines of this week.
What Is 60 Minutes?
60 Minutes first aired in 1968 and is the longest-running prime-time show in television history. It is an American news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network, built on the foundation of investigative journalism, in-depth interviews, and the kind of fearless reporting that made it a genuine institution in American public life.
Its investigative journalism and probing interviews, sometimes with unwilling subjects, have given it the reputation of uncompromising journalism. From Mike Wallace cornering corrupt executives to Ed Bradley interviewing controversial world leaders, 60 Minutes built its reputation over more than five decades by asking the questions nobody else dared to ask.
Who Owns 60 Minutes Right Now in 2026?
The direct answer: 60 Minutes is owned by CBS News, which is owned by CBS, which is owned by Paramount Skydance Corporation — the company formed in 2025 when Skydance Media acquired Paramount Global in an $8 billion deal.
CBS came under new corporate ownership after its parent company, Paramount, merged with David Ellison’s Skydance Media in an $11 billion transaction. Ellison, the son of Silicon Valley mogul Larry Ellison, now leads the combined company as Chairman and CEO.
CBS is the flagship television division of Paramount Skydance Corporation, formed in 2025 after Skydance Media acquired CBS’s former parent, Paramount Global.
In simple terms: when you watch 60 Minutes on CBS every Sunday night, you are watching a product of the Ellison family — one of the wealthiest dynasties in Silicon Valley — who now control the entire CBS network and everything that airs on it.
Ownership and Key Stakeholders Table
| Party | Role | Ownership / Position | Key Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paramount Skydance Corporation | Direct Parent Company of CBS | 100% owner of CBS and 60 Minutes | Formed in 2025 after Skydance acquired Paramount Global for $8 billion |
| David Ellison | Chairman & CEO of Paramount Skydance | Controlling owner via Skydance Media | Son of Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison; runs CBS News direction |
| Larry Ellison | Co-Owner via Skydance | Oracle founder; father of David Ellison | Net worth ~$200 billion; key financial backer of Skydance deal |
| Skydance Media | Acquiring Entity | Controlling stake in Paramount Skydance | Hollywood production company founded by David Ellison in 2006 |
| CBS News Productions | Production Company | Produces 60 Minutes | Internal CBS unit; all editorial decisions made here |
| Bari Weiss | CBS News Editor-in-Chief | Editorial control over CBS News | Appointed after Skydance takeover; overseeing 60 Minutes restructuring |
| Nick Bilton | Executive Producer of 60 Minutes | Day-to-day show leadership | Appointed 2026; former NYT tech columnist and documentary filmmaker |
| Don Hewitt | Original Creator (Historical) | Founded the show in 1968 | Created the newsmagazine format; ran the show until 2004 |
The Origin Story: Don Hewitt and the Birth of a Genre
In 1968, CBS News forever changed the face of broadcast journalism with the premiere of 60 Minutes. It was a revolution in television programming created by veteran newsman Don Hewitt (1922–2009).
Don Hewitt was a scrappy, fast-talking television producer who had been at CBS since the early days of broadcast news. He directed the first televised presidential debate between Nixon and Kennedy in 1960. He had seen everything. But what he wanted to create with 60 Minutes was something nobody had attempted before on American television — a weekly prime-time news program built around investigations, long-form interviews, and storytelling that treated viewers as intelligent adults.
60 Minutes was the first news program to break into the Nielsen’s top ten, and has been the highest-rated public news program for more than 30 years. Hewitt ran the show from its first broadcast until 2004 — a remarkable 36-year run — and shaped it into one of the most profitable programs in CBS’s entire history.
The show’s signature format — three separate investigative stories per episode, each anchored by a recognizable correspondent — was entirely Hewitt’s invention. He brought in legendary journalists including Mike Wallace, Morley Safer, Ed Bradley, Diane Sawyer, Andy Rooney, and Lesley Stahl. Together, they made 60 Minutes synonymous with accountability journalism.
The Corporate Chain: From CBS to Skydance
Understanding who owns 60 Minutes requires following a corporate chain that has shifted dramatically in the last two years.
For most of its history, 60 Minutes was owned by CBS Corporation. In 2000, CBS merged with Viacom. In 2006, it was spun off as a separate CBS Corporation. In 2019, CBS Corporation and Viacom re-merged to form ViacomCBS, which later became Paramount Global.
Then came the deal that changed everything. The FCC approved Skydance Media’s $8 billion bid to acquire Paramount, the parent company of CBS. The green light from Trump’s FCC came after Paramount agreed to a $16 million settlement over a lawsuit brought by the president.
That $16 million settlement is one of the most consequential moments in 60 Minutes’ recent history. Paramount made the deal as it sought to complete its sale to Skydance, the network’s current owner. Previous management at Paramount turned the program into a bargaining chip with the Trump administration, which leveraged a $16 million settlement to end what has been viewed in many legal circles as a flimsy lawsuit tied to a pre-Election Day interview between Bill Whitaker, a 60 Minutes correspondent, and former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.
The settlement shocked the journalism world. 60 Minutes had never apologized for its editorial decisions. The fact that its corporate parent chose to pay $16 million to make the lawsuit go away — while simultaneously seeking regulatory approval from Trump’s government for a multi-billion dollar merger — told many longtime observers everything they needed to know about where the priorities of the new ownership lay.
The 2026 Crisis: Firings, Walkouts, and Scott Pelley’s Final Stand
The storm that has been building at 60 Minutes since the Skydance takeover reached its breaking point in the first week of June 2026 — and the entire American media world is still talking about it.
CBS News fired veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley on Tuesday, a day after he confronted the show’s new executive producer at a heated staff meeting.
Pelley interrupted new executive producer Nick Bilton and pushed back, accusing CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss of “murdering” the venerable newsmagazine, which debuted in September 1968. “She does not love this place,” Pelley told Bilton. “She was brought in to kill it, and she’s been doing exactly that.”
The firings did not stop with Pelley. CBS fired Cecilia Vega, a correspondent, and Tanya Simon, the executive producer, from 60 Minutes last week. Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, an 11-year veteran, was also let go after clashing with executives over a report critical of the Trump administration.
David Ellison became Chairman and CEO of CBS’s parent company, Paramount, after buying it last year. In January, he and his father became co-owners of TikTok’s U.S. operations. Now they’re seeking approval from Trump’s regulators to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN.
For Scott Pelley, who spent 37 years at CBS and reported from combat zones in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Ukraine, the firing was deeply personal. Pelley said in a statement that 60 Minutes has lost its DNA under new management. He accused them of asking him to “inject falsehoods and bias” into his work.
Who Is Bari Weiss and Why Does She Matter?
The appointment of Bari Weiss as CBS News Editor-in-Chief after the Skydance takeover is the single most controversial editorial decision in the network’s recent history.
Weiss is a journalist and commentator who built her reputation as a critic of what she calls liberal groupthink in legacy media. She founded The Free Press, a subscription newsletter, before being tapped by David Ellison to lead CBS News. David Ellison quickly tapped Bari Weiss, who built her brand around the notion that legacy outlets suffer from liberal groupthink, to oversee CBS News.
Her arrival signaled a fundamental shift in editorial direction at 60 Minutes — and it has divided the show’s staff bitterly. A CBS News spokesperson said, “There is no political interference at CBS News, not from ownership, not from Bari Weiss. The only ‘interference’ is the normal back and forth between editor and correspondent that happens in every newsroom.”
New executive producer Nick Bilton — a documentary filmmaker and former tech columnist at The New York Times — has been tasked with rebuilding the show. Weiss and CBS News president Tom Cibrowski said their goal for 60 Minutes was “building a show that thrives in the 21st century.” That could include extending the show beyond a 60-minute broadcast.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1. Who owns 60 Minutes in 2026?
60 Minutes is owned by CBS News, a division of CBS, which is owned by Paramount Skydance Corporation, controlled by David Ellison and his father Larry Ellison.
Q2. Who created 60 Minutes and when?
60 Minutes was created by veteran newsman Don Hewitt and first aired on CBS on September 24, 1968.
Q3. What company owns CBS in 2026?
CBS is owned by Paramount Skydance Corporation, formed in 2025 after Skydance Media acquired Paramount Global in an $8 billion deal approved by the FCC.
Q4. Who is the current executive producer of 60 Minutes?
Nick Bilton, a documentary filmmaker and former New York Times tech columnist, was appointed executive producer of 60 Minutes in 2026.
Q5. Why was Scott Pelley fired from 60 Minutes?
Scott Pelley was fired in June 2026 after publicly accusing CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss of “murdering” the show during a heated staff meeting with new executive producer Nick Bilton.
Q6. Who is Bari Weiss and what is her role at CBS?
Bari Weiss is the Editor-in-Chief of CBS News, appointed by David Ellison after the Skydance takeover to reshape the network’s editorial direction.
Q7. What was the $16 million settlement involving 60 Minutes?
Paramount paid President Trump a $16 million settlement in 2025 to resolve his lawsuit claiming 60 Minutes deceptively edited a Kamala Harris interview — a deal made while Paramount was seeking government approval for its merger with Skydance.
Q8. Is 60 Minutes the longest-running prime-time show in TV history?
Yes. 60 Minutes first aired in 1968 and is currently in its 58th season, making it the longest-running prime-time program in the history of American television.
60 Minutes is owned by CBS News Productions, a unit of CBS, which is owned by Paramount Skydance Corporation — the company formed in 2025 when David Ellison’s Skydance Media acquired Paramount Global in an $8 billion deal. The Ellison family — David and his father Larry, the founder of Oracle — are the ultimate controlling owners of the network that broadcasts 60 Minutes every Sunday night.
The show was created in 1968 by Don Hewitt, ran for over 50 years as the gold standard of American broadcast journalism, and is now in the middle of the most turbulent chapter of its entire history. Veteran correspondent Scott Pelley was fired this week. Multiple producers have been let go. The show’s editorial direction is being reshaped under Bari Weiss and new executive producer Nick Bilton. And the Ellison family is simultaneously seeking government approval for a $110 billion deal to also acquire Warner Bros. Discovery — adding CNN and HBO to an already enormous media empire.