CBS News fired longtime “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley on Tuesday, a day after he reportedly said Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss was “murdering the show” and accused its new producer of having “slender qualifications” for the job. The move deepened the turmoil at the nation's most influential TV news program and the news unit that oversees it.
Pelley had criticized the program's leadership during a meeting Monday between the show’s staff and Nick Bilton, the new executive producer named by Weiss last week, according to a detailed report on the Status website.
In a termination notice obtained Tuesday night by The Associated Press, Bilton, a former technology journalist and filmmaker with no traditional broadcast news experience, accused Pelley of carrying out an “ambush” against him.
“Yesterday, you hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications, and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt,” the letter states.
Pelley’s agent did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night. But Dylan Byers, a senior correspondent for Puck who covers the media, posted a statement on X that quoted the former CBS News anchor as saying he had been asked to undertake questionable journalism that involved “falsehoods and bias.”
"I depart after 37 years at CBS with one emotion — a heart brimming with gratitude for the men and women of CBS News who encouraged and enriched my work, very often at the risk of their own lives. I pray for a day when those people and their ideals are honored again," the statement quoted Pelley as saying.
Status, which said it had heard a recording of the Monday meeting, reported that Pelley grilled Bilton about the firings last week of Bilton’s predecessor, Tanya Simon, and correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega. He also allegedly said that Weiss, who was not present at the meeting, was brought in to kill the news outlet, "and she’s doing exactly that.”
In the dismissal letter late Tuesday, Bilton said Pelley’s “performative display of hostility” demonstrated that he has “no interest in contributing to the future success of the show.”
Since Weiss took over the network's news operation last year, it has traveled a bumpy road.
Pelley's termination came just five days after Weiss, who has become a polarizing figure in the media world since taking the reins at CBS last October, told staff in a memo that it was time for a “new approach” at the top-rated newsmagazine.
In the memo, Weiss and CBS News president Tom Cibrowski said their goal for “60 Minutes” was “building a show that thrives in the 21st century.”
“60 Minutes” first aired in 1968 and is the longest-running prime-time show in TV history. Its investigative journalism and probing interviews, sometimes with unwilling subjects, have given it the reputation of uncompromising journalism — precisely the trait that Pelley said he feared was under assault.
Pelley started working for CBS in 1989. He was its chief White House Correspondent from 1997 to 1999, during Bill Clinton's presidency, and anchored “CBS Evening News” from 2011 to 2017.
FILE - Scott Pelley, anchor of "CBS Evening News," at the CBS Upfront in New York, May 15, 2013. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Macy's reported its fourth consecutive quarter of comparable sales gains as the department store said an overhaul of its merchandise and better customer service is resonating with customers.
The New York company raised its outlook Wednesday and shares rose 3% before the opening bell.
“We're off to a strong start to the year, ” said CEO Tony Spring, who is in the third year of an attempted turnaround of the storied retailer. “We're operating with discipline and focusing on what matters most — our customers.”
Comparable sales — sales at established online channels and stores— rose 3% during the first quarter. That was higher than the 1.8% gain during the final quarter of 2025 and it was the strongest first quarter for such sales in four years, the retailer said. Macy's stores posted a comparable sales increase of 1.6%, while the company's Bloomingdale's stores delivered a 10.2% increase, its highest first-quarter sales volume on record. Bluemercury, the cosmetics chain also owned by Macy's had a 6.4% comparable sales gain.
It’s the latest encouraging sign for Macy’s, which had been mired in a yearslong sales slump. Under Spring, who took over the top job in early 2024, Macy’s has closed unprofitable stores and spent millions modernize others. The company has beefed up customer service. It’s also been trying to differentiate its luxury business from its rivals with exclusive merchandise.
Some of the outsized performance at Bloomingdales has been attributed by retail analysts to the Chapter 11 bankruptcy of Saks Global, the parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus.
Still, Macy’s is contending with the same challenges faced by its the retailer sector as a whole.
U.S. retailers have spent months navigating an uncertain economic environment, from President Donald Trump’s tariffs to the impact of soaring gasoline prices due to the Iran war. The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline has been above $4 per gallon since March, according to according to AAA. A gallon costs 40% more than than it did before the war. The latest batch of earnings reports from major retailers underscore how shoppers are under increasing financial strain as they try to factor in higher prices for gasoline, groceries, utilities and almost everything else.
Macy’s reported net income of $63 million, or 23 cents per share, in the quarter ended May 2. Adjusted earnings per share was 13 cents, a dime better than Wall Street had expected, according to FactSet.
That compares with a $38 million profit, or 13 cents per share, in the year-ago period.
Net sales rose to $4.68 billion from $4.6 billion in the year-ago period. Revenue this quarter also edged out projections on Wall Street.
The company now expects annual net sales of between $21.5 billion and $21.75 billion, up from previous guidance of $21.4 billion to $21.65 billion in March. Macy’s upped its projections for comparable sales, saying on Wednesday that they will likely increase between 0.5% and 1.2%. The company in March predicted a decline of 0.5% to a gain of 0.5%.
It also now anticipates earnings per share for the year to be in the range of $2 to $2.20, up from its previous guidance of $1.90 to $2.10 per share.
For the full fiscal year, analysts were expecting $2.09 per share on revenue of $21.6 billion, according to FactSet analysts.
FILE - A Macy's sign is displayed outside the department store in Gurnee, Ill., Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, file)
