When Nick Bilton was named the new boss at “60 Minutes” on Thursday, the move sent shockwaves through the media world — with “WTF” being a common response. 

But CBS News chief Bari Weiss is so convinced of the move, she wasn’t looking at any other candidates, Page Six Hollywood has learned. And CBS staffers already fear Weiss could have a more unexpected move up her sleeve, bringing her sister, The Free Press co-founder Suzy Weiss, onto “60 Minutes.” 

On Thursday morning, Bari fired “60 Minutes” correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, three days after her contract was up. That move should come as no surprise to Page Six Hollywood readers who were told back on May 8 that Alfonsi would be shown the door at the end of the month and had lawyered up with high-profile litigator Bryan Freedman. 

Sources now tell us that Alfonsi has enlisted crisis publicist and onetime Andrew Cuomo comms director Allison Gollust, the longtime girlfriend of former CNN chief Jeff Zucker. (Gollust and Zucker exited their top CNN posts in 2022 for not disclosing their relationship.) That creates some awkwardness given that Weiss and Zucker are friends, and Zucker was briefly advising Weiss on running the network, as we exclusively reported.

Also on Thursday morning, Weiss cut loose “60 Minutes” executive producer Tanya Simon and correspondent Cecilia Vega as part of the shakeup. 

As the dust settled on a chaotic day, there was a growing divide within the Tiffany Network’s newsroom among those who are happy with Weiss’ moves and those sitting shiva. The latter are convinced that Weiss is about to get really unconventional by plugging her sister into the overhauled “60 Minutes” lineup. 

CBS declined comment, and Suzy did not respond. But a source close to CBS News threw cold water on the plan, telling us: “Suzy is awesome, but this is insanity,” jokingly adding of any speculation, “just wait till they hear that their father is going to be the real executive producer of the show.” The insider said there are no plans for Suzy to move over from The Free Press, where she recently launched the new podcast “Second Thought,” featuring such interviews as Scooter Braun sharing “his side” of the Taylor Swift masters war.

“Bari was given the green light to make wholesale changes after she arrived, so people have been bracing for a significant move for a long time,” says an insider, who called Simon, the daughter of legendary “60 Minutes” correspondent Bob Simon, a “nepo baby.” ”And now, she finally is making moves.” 

As far as Weiss’ other big move goes, the writer Gore Vidal coined the famous line, “Every time a friend succeeds, I die a little.” Vidal’s witticism became newly apropos within the journalism world after Thursday’s announcement that Bilton —the journalist, writer and filmmaker who has had stints at The New York Times and later Vanity Fair — was appointed the new executive editor of “60 Minutes.”

Bilton, who has no experience in broadcast TV, is replacing Simon, a 25-year vet of the venerable newsmagazine. And while the announcement was met by Bilton’s peers with astonishment and envy, Weiss was apparently not considering any other candidates, Page Six Hollywood learned.

“This was the guy,” says a source familiar with Weiss’ thinking, adding that the EIC wasn’t interviewing others, including internal candidates. “This did not happen super quickly,” said the source. “It’s not something that was decided a week ago, or even a month ago — it’s been in the hopper for a while.”

Bilton and Weiss became acquaintances during Weiss’ five-year stint living in LA (she moved back to New York in 2025). Their relationship dates back to at least the fall of 2023, when Bilton attended a debate The Free Press held at the Ace Hotel in downtown LA, which Weiss moderated.

Since publishing his bestseller, “Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal” in 2013, Bilton has effectively kept one foot in journalism, while simultaneously courting work as a writer in Hollywood. He has sold several projects. Before landing the CBS gig, he was working on a screenplay starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson for Martin Scorsese. He also wrote and directed the 2021 HBO doc “Fake Famous”, and was a staff writer on The Weeknd‘s TV series, “The Idol.”

Still, the elevation has shocked the industry. “Nick Bilton? You mean the guy who works out of the library at the San Vicente Bungalows?!,” asked a Hollywood insider. “WTF,” asked the same source. “Not because he is bad or whatnot. But another person who doesn’t understand TV news. It is malpractice! Is that the future of ’60 Minutes?'”

But in an interview with New York Magazine, Bilton touted his ability to adapt. “I went off to Hollywood; I did documentaries. I’d never done that before. I went off to write screenplays and did them for Scorsese with the Rock and so on, and had never done that before. And I think it’s all storytelling at the end of the day.”

Said a source who has known Bilton for years, “I want to be happy for my friends. But honestly this is just so bizarre.” While another added: “Good reporter, but in no way ever equipped for this job.” 

Another veteran of the industry said, “People are stunned. They are like, what? A tech reporter? It’s a little wacky. You don’t need a ton of experience to make great TV, but it is tricky to put a print reporter in a job like that. It seems like the world is upside down, [and] there is a bit of mythology going on with the people and the place. CBS News is not the one that Edward R. Murrow ran, and it hasn’t been for a really long time.”