CBS is in crisis – with staffers crying in the hallways, fighting over story coverage and seating, and scrambling to update their resumes amid fears of mass layoffs.

Insiders have told the Daily Mail that morale has plummeted across the network, from the flagship Sunday news show 60 Minutes to CBS Mornings, sparked by a looming $8.4 billion merger and a $20 billion lawsuit.

The tumult is turning into a ‘bloodbath’, one employee said, with feverish speculation rife among colleagues as to who will get the axe next.

Tensions are running particularly high about reports that CBS’s parent company, Paramount Global, is preparing to slash $500 million in costs in preparation for the lucrative merger with Skydance Media against the backdrop of a ratings freefall.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s legal action against 60 Minutes over claims that an interview with former presidential candidate Kamala Harris was deceptively edited continues to cause deep division.

There have been suggestions recently that bosses at Paramount are entertaining a $50 million payout as the Trump administration considers whether to renew CBS’s broadcast license.

The chaos has intensified since the abrupt exit of CEO Wendy McMahon on Monday, who indicated that she opposed settling with President Trump, and described her final months in the job as ‘challenging’.

‘It’s become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward,’ McMahon wrote in her terse exit memo. ‘It’s time for me to move on and for this organization to move forward with new leadership.’

CBS News is crisis after the departure of CEO Wendy McMahon – with staffers crying in the hallways, fighting over story coverage and seating, and scrambling to update their resumes amid fears of mass layoffs

Her sudden departure sent shockwaves through the offices of The Early Show and CBS Evening News and has prompted frenzied gossip about which household names will follow her out the door.

‘[Wendy leaving] really hurt us a lot,’ said one CBS employee. ‘I’ve seen people crying in the halls. Everyone is going into offices and conference rooms to whisper and strategize.’

Fed-up sources observed that there was growing resentment towards legendary CBS Mornings anchor Gayle King, who is reportedly facing a fight to have her $10million contract renewed when it ends in September.

And there might be more exits to come. Multiple sources told the Daily Mail that 60 Minutes host Scott Pelley could also be on the way out.

‘It’s marquee name after marquee name. People don’t want to say it out loud in the office but the entire space debacle really hurt us,’ a 60 Minutes staffer said of King’s participation in Blue Origin’s all-female spaceflight on April 2. ‘Gayle being part of that is not a good look for our brand.’

Fed-up sources observed that there was growing resentment towards legendary CBS Mornings anchor Gayle King , who is reportedly facing a fight to have her $10million contract renewed when it ends in September

And there might be more exits to come. Multiple sources told the Daily Mail that 60 Minutes host Scott Pelley could also be on the way out

‘I think a lot of people resent Gayle for that,’ continued the insider. ‘I know I do.’

There was a general sense of embarrassment, said one Early Show producer. ‘I almost feel like apologizing when I tell people where I work. I hate it here.’

But the most palpable impact appears to have been felt at 60 Minutes, where staff have compared the atmosphere to a ‘sinking ship’.

‘We’re in the middle of a bloodbath,’ a staffer said. ‘The axe is falling, people are leaving, no one knows what to do next. We’re all updating our resumes because it really feels like this is a sinking ship.’

The tension has spilled out into the open, with blazing rows in the office over story coverage and petty squabbles concerning seating plans, sources told the Daily Mail.

‘Fights, and loud ones,’ the insider continued. ‘You can hear them in the halls. People are arguing over everything and anything. From big things, like how to report stories, to small things, like who is sitting where in the conference room.’

The deterioration of the mood in the newsroom began with the April departure of Bill Owens, the long-time executive producer of 60 Minutes, who left citing concerns about editorial independence.

The deterioration of the mood in the newsroom began with the April departure of Bill Owens, the long-time executive producer of 60 Minutes, who left citing concerns about editorial independence

Now, there is speculation Pelley could also be leaving, and King’s future is far from guaranteed – not least because of the backlash within CBS and beyond after the controversial spaceflight.

When Owens quit, Pelley said on 60 Minutes: ‘Bill felt he lost the independence that honest journalism requires. No one here is happy about it. But in resigning, Bill proved one thing – he was the right person to lead 60 Minutes all along.’

Significantly adding to the pressure at the embattled news network are suggestions of the potential settlement in the $20 billion lawsuit from Trump. 

The president claims that a 60 Minutes segment featuring Harris ahead of the 2020 presidential election was deceptively edited in an attempt to assist her election chances.

Two versions of Harris’s interview were aired in which she appears to give different answers to the same question about the Israel-Hamas war, according to the federal lawsuit.

CBS News has maintained that the then-vice president simply gave a lengthy answer, which was cut down due to time constraints, and that the lawsuit was ‘completely’ without merit’. The network has asked a judge to dismiss the case.

But the President’s lawyers insist that CBS was being partisan, and trying to make Harris’s answer more coherent.

As CBS and Paramount Global are working towards their merger with Skydance, Trump’s Federal Communications Commission has said that it would not approve the deal until the lawsuit was settled.

All the uncertainty has led to frazzled nerves and personal turmoil for the journalists still working for CBS News.

‘People are literally keeping antacid at their desks,’ said the Early Show staffer. ‘I’ve never seen anything quite this bad.’

A representative for CBS News said the network ‘doesn’t comment on personnel matters’ in a statement to the Daily Mail.