Veteran CNN news anchor Chris Wallace has announced he is leaving the network to venture into the streaming world.
Wallace, 77, told the Daily Beast Monday that he decided to forfeit his seven-figure contract, just about a week after he hosted the station’s election night coverage.
The career broadcast journalist described his decision as ‘quite liberating.’ His time at the network will be over at the end of the year.
‘This is the first time in 55 years I’ve been between jobs. I am actually excited and liberated by that,’ Wallace told the outlet.
Although Wallace described the streaming and podcasting space as ‘where the action seems to be,’ he is not exactly sure where that will take him.
‘Not knowing is part of the challenge. I‘m waiting to see what comes over the transom. It might be something that I haven’t thought of at all,’ he said.
Veteran news anchor Chris Wallace announced Monday that he will be leaving CNN to pursue a career in the streaming world
The career broadcast journalist described his decision as ‘quite liberating’, as his time at the network will be over at the end of the year
Despite being unsure of what’s ahead of him, Wallace said: ‘I am clearly not going to become a hard-right or hard-left advocate. It’s just absent from my DNA.’
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Wallace revealed he plans to take on his new adventure by adding touches of his own brand and style.
‘I’ve interviewed presidents, princes, kings and one saint, Mother Teresa,’ he said.
Another component to his decision was his family, according to Wallace, who said he and his wife Lorraine discussed his future in Spring 2024.
The couple of 26 years agreed that Wallace would ‘stick around’ for the 2024 election before leaving the station.
‘My family just want me to be happy and they want me to keep working. They do not want to have to worry about entertaining me,’ Wallace said.
He has six children and nine grandchildren. Wallace shares four children with his first wife Elizabeth Farrel, while his current wife has two children with her former husband Dick Smothers.
Prior to his time at CNN, Wallace was with Fox News Sunday for 18 years up until 2021.
He originally joined the station to be one of the faces on CNN+, a failed streaming network that was nixed by former CEO Chris Licht just a month after launching in March 2022.
The journalist currently anchors The Chris Wallace Show on Saturday mornings on the station, and Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace?, which streams on Max.
Wallace made it clear that his decision has nothing to do with his experience at CNN, saying: ‘I have nothing but positive things to say.
‘CNN has been very good to me,’ he added.
Mark Thompson, the current CEO and Chairman of CNN said Wallace is ‘one of the most respected political journalists in the news business with a unique track record across radio, print, broadcast television, cable television and streaming.
‘We want to thank him for the dedication and wisdom he’s brought to all his work at CNN and to wish him the very best for the future.’
Wallace started at a local TV station in Chicago in 1973, before moving on to other major networks including Meet the Press, The Today Show, and ABC’s PrimeTime Live.
He followed in his late father’s footsteps, Mike Wallace, a renowned 60 Minutes reporter who worked into his 80s. (Pictured: Mike and Chris in an undated image)
Over the years, he has gone on to win major awards for his hard work in the industry, including three Emmys.
He is currently working on a new edition of his ‘Countdown’ book series, where he previously detailed the 1960 presidential election, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the hunt for Osama bin Laden.
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Throughout his career, Wallace has interviewed an array of high-profile political figures, including president- elect Donald Trump, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Vladimir Putin, and Barack Obama, among others.
He followed in his late father’s footsteps, Mike Wallace, a renowned 60 Minutes reporter who worked into his 80s.
His parents divorced when he was just one-years-old, and went on to grow up with his mother Norma Kaphan and his step-father Bill Leonard, the former president of CBS News.
Wallace knows for sure that although his time at CNN is coming to a close, he is not done with his career just yet.
‘I know I want to do something because Wallace’s keep working,’ he said.
CNN’s ratings have been lagging far behind rival FOX and MSNBC, part of what’s rumored to be a winter of layoffs that many at the network fear will be a ‘bloodbath,’ with one source saying ‘the place needs to be turned upside down.’
Wallace has interviewed an array of high-profile political figures, including president elect Donald Trump, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Vladimir Putin, and Barack Obama, among others
Over the years, he has gone on to win major awards for his hard work in the industry, including three Emmys. (Pictured: Wallace with Megyn Kelly and Bret Baier in 2015)
Jake Tapper and Wolf Blitzer – making $7 million and $3 million, respectively – signed new deals at the same price, with an agent joking that ‘flat is the new up.’
News of his departure comes as many networks face a hardship amidst anchors salaries being cut, or leaving to branch off on their own media journey.
In late September, Today Show legend Hoda Kotb announced she will be leaving the show early next year after nearly seven years at the helm.
Hoda, who has been part of NBC News for 26 years, was immediately moved to tears as she explained to her fellow co-hosts turning 60 had been a ‘monumental moment’ that made her decide it was time to ‘try something new’.
The TV icon – who reportedly earns around $8 million a year – also wrote a letter explaining her ‘painful’ decision to her colleagues, explaining further that marking her 60th birthday sparked a seismic ‘shift’ in her life.