“CBS Mornings” co-anchor Gayle King is set to fly to outer space next month, but she may not have a job to come back to when she returns to Earth.
Rumors are swirling that CBS and Gayle have reached a crossroads in her 14-year career as a news anchor at the network.
READ ALSO: Gayle King joins all-women crew on Jeff Bezos’ next space flight
Gayle, 70. is upset after CBS moved her fancy set in Times Square to its former home at CBS Broadcast Center on West 57th Street.
Gayle and her co-anchors formerly aired their morning show from a luxury office at 1515 Broadway in Times Square.
“Gayle is livid. She sees this as a personal attack,” RadarOnline reports. “She only signed a one-year extension, and this was not part of the deal.”
Other sources claim King was “blindsided” by the downgrade, which she interprets as the network cutting costs.
“She made it very clear — she’s not going to be shoved into some dingy little room,” one insider explained. “She expects the same level of comfort and prestige she had at 1515 Broadway. No exceptions.”
“This is the final insult. Gayle is done putting up with this,” a second source claimed. “She’s got Oprah in her corner, she has options, and she’s not afraid to use them.”
The downgrade comes as CBS’s parent company, Paramount, faces a potential $28 billion acquisition by Skydance Media. To make that acquisition happen, Paramount executives are scrambling to cut $500 million in expenses.
That includes cutting Gayle’s hefty salary of $12 million annually. Gayle’s salary makes her one of the highest paid news anchors in the business. She’s also one of the oldest female news anchor in the business.
Gayle earned just $25,000 as a correspondent on her best friend Oprah‘s The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1991.
Before joining CBS News, Gayle was a special correspondent for Good Morning America.
Gayle’s starting salary at CBS in 2011 was $2 million a year.
Gayle is a fan favorite who has grown with her audience. News shows know that their audience demographic is older. That’s why commercials are loaded with products for the older generation, such as erectile dysfunction drugs, denture cleaners, urine incontinence diapers, etc.
However, sources say the new owners of CBS are looking to attract more younger viewers – which means Gayle’s days on the “CBS Mornings” set are numbered.
