CBS canceled The Late Show with Stephen Colbert because it was losing $40 million a year, it was claimed. Puck journalist Matthew Belloni revealed Colbert’s astonishing lack of profitability Friday, hours after CNN first broke the news that the show was canceled because it was in the red.

Belloni outlined how The Late Show – whose cancelation was announced Thursday – costs $100m a year to produce, with Colbert, 61, getting paid between $15 million and $20 million a year to host. Colbert beats ABC and NBC rivals Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon in the ratings, but that still wasn’t enough to save him.

Late night shows have slumped in profitability in recent years as viewers shun the format in favor of streaming services or watching content on their phones. Advertiser revenue has slumped sharply even in the last three years, Puck reported, making it harder to pull Colbert’s show out of the red. Colbert was reported to be ‘not angry, actually’ about his cancelation and was chatting with his staff in a ‘matter-of-fact’ way before Thursday’s show, Puck reported.

Colbert, who will broadcast his final show in May 2026, was first informed his show was on the chopping block around July 4, it is claimed. He the went on vacation, giving bosses at CBS time to plot behind his back, CNN reported. Colbert had news of his cancelation confirmed Thursday.

He moved to share it as quickly as possible so that his staff would not learn of their impending unemployment via leaks to the press. All three major late night hosts – Colbert, Kimmel and Fallon – have become notorious for their regular rants about President Trump, which many viewers have complained are boring and off-putting.

But Belloni said he didn’t believe the famously anti-MAGA Colbert was axed to appease Donald Trump, who recently won a $15 million payout from CBS after suing them over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris he said was deceptively edited. The axing of Colbert has delighted Trump, who posted about it on his TruthSocial network earlier today.

Colbert’s ouster could also make it easier for CBS parent company Paramount’s efforts to merge with media company Skydance in a deal that must be approved by Trump’s Federal Communications Commission. Colbert’s axing came just days after he sniped at CBS bosses for settling with Trump, branding the deal a ‘big fat bribe.’

The Late Show launched in 1993 under David Letterman to compete with longtime late night juggernaut The Tonight Show. Colbert took over from Letterman in 2015 after his retirement. More than three decades later, CBS’s entry into the late night sphere sits at the top, with s econd-best Jimmy Kimmel Live! raking in an average of 1.772 million viewers.

Colbert, by comparison, collects an average of 2.417 million. Colbert – who once played a conservative character on Comedy Central’s satirical late night program The Colbert Report – often aired jokes at the conservative’s expense. Trump celebrated the news of the show’s cancellation as a result.

‘I absolutely love that Colbert’ got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings,” he wrote in a Friday Truth Social post. ‘I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert,’ he added, before talking up right-wing Fox New star Greg Gutfeld.

‘[He’s] better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show,’ Trump added, referring to Jimmy Fallon. Trump previously worked for NBC during his days on ‘The Apprentice.’