Couric Leaving NBC for CBS Anchor Position

Katie Couric confirmed today that she would be leaving NBC to join CBS, where she is set to become the first solo female anchor in weekday evening network news history.

“I wanted to tell all of you out there who have watched the show for the past 15 years that after listening to my heart and my gut — two things that have served me pretty well in the past — I’ve decided I’ll be leaving ‘Today’ at the end of May,” she told viewers. “I really feel as if we’ve become friends through the years.”

Couric will replace Bob Schieffer on the “CBS Evening News,” beginning in September, CBS confirmed in a statement. As both anchor and managing editor of the program, which will bear her name, she will take on the responsibility of hosting the broadcast from its current third-place ratings.

It is reported that she will earn a salary of $13 million to $15 million for five years, the Associated Press reported, citing a non-network person close to Couric. “I never would have dreamed that we would be lucky enough to have her on the program as long as we have,” added Jeff Zucker, the network's CEO and Couric's producer when she became a “Today” correspondent in 1990. “But there comes a time for everyone, when new challenges become hard to resist, and I fully understand that. I couldn't be happier for Katie.”