What is Scott Pelley's Net Worth and Salary?
Scott Pelley is an American television journalist and news anchor who has a net worth of $18 million. Scott Pelley is best known for his long tenure at CBS News, where he served as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News, as well as a correspondent for the network's flagship magazine program, "60 Minutes." Prior to his 60 Minutes position, Pelley was a correspondent for the 60 Minutes II program and served as CBS News's chief White House correspondent. Pelley has been the correspondent on teams that have won 25 national Emmy Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, a Peabody, and Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Awards..
Early Life and Career Beginnings
Scott Pelley was born on July 28, 1957 in San Antonio, Texas and was raised in Lubbock. There, he was educated at Coronado High School. When he was 15, Pelley landed his first journalism job as a copyboy for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Deciding to stay close to home after graduating from high school, he remained in Lubbock and attended Texas Tech University. Although he didn't graduate, Pelley was later named an Outstanding Alumnus of the school due to his successful career in journalism.
The CBS Evening News and 60 Minutes
In 1989, Pelley began working at CBS in New York City. He eventually moved back to Texas, to Dallas, to cover national affairs, such as the Gulf War. Pelley reported from Baghdad and traveled with the XVIII Airborne Corps during its assault on Iraq and Kuwait. He went on to cover many other major events over the subsequent years, including the 1992 presidential race, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. Later in the decade, from 1997 to 1999, Pelley served as CBS News's chief White House correspondent. During that time, he covered the impeachment of Bill Clinton, and broke the news that Monica Lewinsky had become a cooperating witness in the Office of Independent Counsel's investigation. In the 21st century, Pelley has frequently reported from various war zones around the world, including Afghanistan and the Darfur region of Sudan.
Pelley became a host of the CBS newsmagazine program "60 Minutes" in 2003, joining Lesley Stahl, Christiane Amanpour, and Steve Kroft, among others. Since joining the show, Pelley has reported on such subjects as the 2008-09 economic crisis, the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the effects of climate change. He also landed the first major television interview with FBI director James Comey, and conducted the only interview with one of the Navy SEALs responsible for killing Osama bin Laden. In 2022, Pelley made headlines by managing to land an interview with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the ground in Kyiv during Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Among his other positions at CBS News, Pelley succeeded Katie Couric as the anchor of the "CBS Evening News" program in 2011; he also became the program's managing editor. In Pelley's first nine months as anchor, the show gained over 820,000 new viewers daily. After leaving the program in 2017, he told CNN that he had been removed from his position due to complaints he made to CBS News management about its hostile work environment. A number of CBS executives and on-air personalities were subsequently dismissed from the network due to workplace misconduct, including "60 Minutes" executive producer Jeff Fager and CBS Corporation chairman Les Moonves.
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Awards and Recognition
Pelley has been the recipient of numerous honors and awards for his work in the field of broadcast journalism. The most awarded correspondent in the history of "60 Minutes," he has won over 30 Emmy Awards throughout the years. In 2007, Pelley and his reporting team won a Peabody Award for their coverage of civilian deaths during a Marine engagement in Haditha, Iraq. He and his team won another Peabody in 2009 for their report on the medical relief group Remote Area Medical, which operates free medical clinics for uninsured Americans. Also in 2009, Pelley's team won the George Polk Awards, the Gerald Loeb Award, and the Investigative Reporters and Editors Award for an investigation into American recycling companies covertly sending toxic waste to China.
In 2011, Pelley's team won the Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award for their investigation into the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster. The following year, they won their second Gerald Loeb Award, and in 2013 they won their third Peabody Award, this time for an investigation into a fraudulent medical study at Duke University. Pelley and his team went on to win a number of further accolades, including three more Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Awards in 2014, 2016, and 2020. The awards were for, respectively: coverage of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School; a report on a mass nerve gas attack in the suburbs of Damascus, Syria; and coverage of the separation of migrant children and their families at the US border during the Trump administration.
Personal Life
Pelley married his wife, former television reporter and ad executive Jane Boone, in 1983. The couple has a son named Reece and a daughter named Blair.
Real Estate
In 2007 Scott and Jane paid $4 million for a 2.4 acre property in Darien, Connecticut. They listed this home for sale in July 2017 at a slight loss, initially seeking $3.985 million. They lowered the price in 2019 to $3.25 million and eventually accepted just $2.75 million in September 2020.
In 2016 Scott and Jane paid $1.25 million for a 24-acre ranch in his native Texas.
In August 2016 they paid $2.25 million for an apartment in New York City's Flatiron district.
