I'm absolutely shocked. CBS will part ways with its late night talk show star Stephen Colbert in May 2026. The timing of the news, which came late on Thursday, raised eyebrows given that Colbert returned to the airwaves from vacation on Monday and called Paramount's $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump a "big fat bribe."

CBS calls the cancellation "purely a financial decision," but we're all left with lots of questions. Paramount Global, which only two weeks ago made the deal to settle a lawsuit brought by Trump over a "60 Minutes" interview with then-candidate Kamala Harris, is still awaiting approval from the FCC for its merger with Skydance Media. 

And now suddenly comes this cancellation of a leading critic of the Trump administration. 

As we say, we have questions. 

Roger Cheng
Managing Editor of Business and PRO
roger.cheng@thewrap.com

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STEPHEN COLBERT OUT

"The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" will sunset at the end of the 2025-26 TV season, an announcement the host made during his show's taping. 

This marks a whipsaw week for Colbert, who on Monday returned from vacation ready to blast parent Paramount Global for its settlement.

On Tuesday, he celebrated a nomination for an Emmy.

Today he announced his pink slip.  

But Colbert still has another season and 10 months to go, so it will be interesting to see how Colbert's show will go now that he's "unfettered."

DON'T MISS

With earnings season officially under way, it's a good opportunity to listen in on what the tech giants are saying about artificial intelligence. While we know they'll be hyping up AI, one other keyword you should keep an ear out for is "headcount."

That's because companies have been a lot more upfront about the impact of AI on jobs, and just how quickly those roles will be displaced. Sean Burch explored in today's dive into finance. 

CATCH UP

Lowry's Take: The movement to defund NPR and PBS has been built on half-truths and lies

Creatorverse: YouTubers got shut out of the Emmys, but it's only a matter of time to start having a presence

Skydance Beware: Jon Stewart weighs in on the prospect of cancellation under his upcoming new parent company: "I’ve been kicked out of s–ttier establishments"

Ratings: "The White Lotus" ranked as the most-watched Emmy nominee of the year, although "Severance," "The Pitt" and "Andor" also had strong showings

Earnings: Netflix kicked off earnings season with 2nd Quarter revenue that topped expectations

BIZ CORNER

Wrap Scoop: Joe Eszterhas to write "anti-woke" "Basic Instinct" reboot in $4 million deal with Amazon MGM 

Exclusive: Netflix's global ads measurement vice president, Julie DeTraglia, exits as company shifts ad leadership

VideoAmp appoints media veteran Peter Liguori as CEO

An "Assassin's Creed" show on Netflix has been green lit

Fox Sports inks long-term deal with Barstool Sports and Dave Portnoy

DATA POINT

"Madea's Destination Wedding" tops this week's Samba TV Wrap report, helping Netflix continue its pole position for the sixth-straight week

IN OTHER NEWS...

OpenAI debuts its ChatGPT Agent, which can control your computer and do tasks for you (TheVerge)

Substack raises $100 million in a funding round that values it at $1.1 billion (New York Times)

Trump is now dealing with fallout from the MAGA Mediaverse he created  (Columbia Journalism Review)

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