After three years of serving as Yahoo’s global news anchor, Katie Couric is ending her show.
The move comes after more than a year of speculation that Couric’s days were numbered at the web portal as the financially troubled tech firm was shopping itself around.
Last month, Yahoo was officially bought by Verizon, which promptly rebranded the company as Oath.
Couric’s departure is a somber end to the high hopes that Yahoo’s former CEO Marissa Mayer once had for the company. At 2015’s annual Coins2Day Most Powerful Women dinner, Mayer revealed how she originally wooed the former CBS Evening News anchor, fresh off the stage from presenting at a summit for CMOs. Couric moved over to Yahoo after the conclusion of her contract with CBS, a tenure marked by tough ratings, where the first female nightly news anchor said she did “too much too soon.”
“I’m very proud of my time at Yahoo—anchoring live events, political coverage, and breaking news with a team of very talented journalists,” Couric said in a statement about her departure from Yahoo. “Over the past three years, we have produced a wide range of high quality video content that was delivered to millions of viewers. I learned some valuable lessons during my tenure, which I will take with me as I continue to create, develop and produce a variety of content for different platforms in this constantly evolving landscape.”
According to Recode, which first reported the news, Couric’s contract had expired in March but was extended until June. Oath CEO Tim Armstrong wanted to keep Couric onboard, but she has opted to work with the company on a project basis. In addition to news coverage, Couric has also launched her own production company, begun making documentary films, and has a podcast.
Since joining Yahoo in 2014, Couric and her team have generated nearly 1 billion video views.
Couric’s production company, Katie Couric Media, is currently partnering with National Geographic on a six-part documentary series that will take a deep dive into the revolutionary changes and major social issues of our time, as well as working on scripted series Unbelievable, which is in development for Netflix, among others.
