Bari Weiss' New '60 Minutes' Boss Nick Bilton Making $2.5Million to Lead the Besieged Program – $1Million More Than Ousted EP Tanya Simon
CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss is paying new boss Nick Bilton $2.5million-a-year to lead scandal hit show.
June 5 2026, Published 6:55 a.m. ET
New 60 Minutes boss Nick Bilton is making $2.5million-a-year leading the scandal-hit show — dwarfing the salary of predecessor Tanya Simon, according to new claims.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the exec is being paid $1m more than Simon, who was ousted from her position by CBS News chief Bari Weiss last month.
Sparking 'Civil War' Among Staffers
Bilton's firing of Scott Pelley's triggered unrest internally at CBS News.
Bilton, 49, fired veteran correspondent Scott Pelley, 68, this week after questioning his qualifications for the high-profile gig and "hijacking" his first meeting with staff.
As RadarOnline.com reported, the brutal move left fellow long-standing stars Bill Whitaker and Lesley Stahl considering their futures at the CBS News show.
Bilton sacked Pelley in a leaked memo which read: "Your antipathy to the future of the show has come through loud and clear.
"And I have heard you. I therefore write on behalf of CBS News to inform you that your employment with CBS is terminated effective immediately."
'60 Minutes' Lost Its DNA'
Pelley hit back after his firing, accusing new bosses of tarnishing show.
The email Bilton sent Pelley also said: "You hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt.
"I welcome a diversity of viewpoints and respectful debate among the team, but this was nothing of the sort."
The memo also accused Pelley of staging a "performative display of hostility," and said he had "no interest in contributing to the future success of the show, or approaching my new tenure with a mind open to collaboration and progress."
Pelley fired back with his own statement that was posted on X by Puck's Dylan Byers.
"Last month, 60 Minutes lost its DNA when our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause," Pelley wrote.
Pelley was openly critical of both Weiss and his new '60 Minutes' executive producer Bilton.
He also accused the show of interfering with his reporting, alleging in a lengthy statement, "new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story.
"I've been told to include assertions that are unverified. To date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them."
He added: "Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast," without specifying further, and that, "incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc. In a case involving one of my stories, the entire program came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all."
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Bilton and Weiss worked together at the Times in San Francisco, where he covered Silicon Valley.
Bilton's connection to Weiss dates back to his time working for the Times in San Francisco covering Silicon Valley. One of his colleagues was Nellie Bowles, who is now Weiss' wife.
Both left the publication on bad terms, and according to staffers, that feeling of disdain was mutual — to Bilton, particularly.
An insider told PageSix: "He has the reputation here of having consistently failed upwards."
"The Times crowd resented Nick. They thought he was too flashy and not a lot of substance," says one source who worked with Bilton.
"I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if (he and Weiss) bonded more over hating all the stuffed shirts at the Times than their shared politics."
