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Longtime anchor Jeff Glor and three correspondents exit CBS News in cost-cutting move

An entrance to a building with the CBS logo written on it
CBS News is losing several familiar faces in the latest round of cost-cutting at Paramount Global. L.A.-based reporter Ben Tracy is leaving.
(Mark Lennihan / Associated Press)
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Jeff Glor, a longtime anchor at CBS News, is exiting the network along with three other veteran correspondents in the most recent round of layoffs at parent company Paramount Global.

Glor has been a co-anchor of “CBS Saturday Morning” since 2019. Before joining the program, Glor spent 18 months as anchor of “CBS Evening News.” He preceded Norah O’Donnell.

The network news division is also parting ways with three veteran correspondents, including Ben Tracy, who covered environmental issues out of Los Angeles; Anna Werner, the senior consumer investigative correspondent; and Chicago-based reporter Roxana Saberi, according to people briefed on the cuts.

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The staff reductions hit CBS stations as well. Morning news anchor Marci Gonzalez of Los Angeles outlet KCAL is among those who will depart.

A CBS News representative declined to comment.

CBS Saturday Morning Co-Host Jeff Glor. Photos: Michele Crowe/CBS ©2021 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved
(Michele Crowe/Michele Crowe/CBS)

The cuts are part of wide-ranging reductions at Paramount Global, which announced in June that it will cut 15% of its U.S. employees, or 2,000 people. The layoffs made this week mark the second phase of the planned layoffs, which are now 90% complete, according to a memo sent to staffers Tuesday.

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The layoffs are part of an effort to save $500 million in annual costs ahead of the company’s upcoming merger.

Tech scion David Ellison’s Skydance Media, along with RedBird Capital Partners and Ellison’s father, Larry, the co-founder of software giant Oracle Corp., are poised to take control of Paramount in the first half of next year, if regulators approve the deal.

With some help from CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Duthiers has become a TV news fixture after walking away from a high-paying job in finance.

Before the merger agreement, CBS combined its network news division with its owned television stations under Wendy McMahon. CBS News is now expected to partner more with its local TV stations.

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Glor had been with CBS News since 2007. His reporting appeared frequently across its programs on major stories, and he was groomed for the evening news anchor desk, a stint that was short-lived. His tenure on “CBS Saturday Morning” alongside co-anchors Michelle Miller and Dana Jacobson lifted the program to its best ratings position against ABC and NBC since 2003.

Werner joined CBS News in 2011, regularly delivering reports on hospital, pharmaceutical and insurance practices, defective products, web-based and other financial scams, illegal dietary supplements and how artificial intelligence affects consumers. Her investigative work earned numerous broadcast journalism honors including a George R. Polk Award earlier this year.

Saberi spent five years as a foreign correspondent based in the network’s London bureau before moving to Chicago. During her time reporting overseas, she was imprisoned in Iran for 100 days in 2009 on a false charge of spying for the CIA.

Tracy joined CBS News in 2008, focusing on climate change in recent years. He has reported internationally and served as White House correspondent during the Trump administration.

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