Entertainment16 February, 20262 min read
CNN Anchor Anderson Cooper Quits 60 Minutes After 20 Years to Spend More Time with His Kids
Anderson Cooper will leave CBS News' 60 Minutes after nearly two decades as a correspondent. He said he wants to spend more time with his young children.
43 outlets told this the same way.
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Cooper leaving 60 Minutes
Anderson Cooper announced he will leave CBS’s 60 Minutes after nearly 20 years. He said he is stepping away to spend more time with his young children and will remain at CNN. In statements carried by multiple outlets, Cooper called his time at 60 Minutes "one of the highlights" or "one of the great honors" of his career.
“Cooper ... announced his exit on Feb. 16, saying the work ‘has been one of the highlights’ of his career ... stepping away to spend more time with his young sons, Wyatt (5) and Sebastian (4).”
He said family priorities motivated the decision. Some reports add he chose not to renew his CBS contract while renewing his CNN deal.
Anderson Cooper's TV career
Cooper’s 60 Minutes tenure dates to a long-standing arrangement between CBS and CNN that began in the 2006–07 season; some outlets give a more specific start date. Over almost two decades, he reported on major domestic and international stories and won multiple Emmy Awards for his field work, while continuing to anchor Anderson Cooper 360° on CNN. Several accounts review his broader TV career, noting he joined CNN in 2001 and hosted long-form and special programming in addition to his magazine segments.
CBS and Cooper update
CBS publicly thanked Cooper for his decades of reporting and said the door would remain open for his return. Outlets report his final 60 Minutes segment aired this past Sunday and featured filmmaker Ken Burns. Several reports said the Cooper segment likely closed out his run this season and that CBS left open the possibility of future contributions.
“CBS thanked him for decades of reporting — including recent pieces on the prediction market Polymarket, families affected by school shootings, and a profile of AI company Anthropic — and said the door would remain open for his return.”
Context for Cooper's exit
Cooper's exit has been widely reported in the context of broader upheaval at CBS News after Paramount Skydance's acquisition and Bari Weiss's appointment as editor-in-chief.
Media coverage highlights staff concerns about editorial independence, examples of delayed or pulled segments, and speculation about whether corporate changes influenced departures; some outlets treat those institutional factors as background context, while others, citing internal sources, suggest they were an active factor in prompting exits or refusals to expand roles.
Cooper's future at CNN
Most outlets note Cooper will remain at CNN and will continue nightly anchoring and specials. CBS indicated it would welcome him back, and some pieces speculate whether CBS leadership sought to recruit him full-time or whether Cooper declined expanded roles amid editorial shifts. Observers frame the move as both a personal scaling back and part of a broader moment of talent reshuffling in legacy newsrooms.
“Cooper remains at CNN — having renewed his contract in December 2025 — and will continue to anchor AC360° and co‑host CNN’s New Year’s Eve special.”