In 1989, Diane Sawyer left her position at CBS News to work for one of its competitors — ABC News. The jump shocked some, especially her co-anchors at CBS, and some speculated she moved for a higher salary, a rumored $1.5 million per year, according to The Washington Post. Sawyer, though, confirmed to the Los Angeles Times that her decision to transition was not financial, saying, "It was not about the money. It was about how you're going to spend your working life over the next several years."
Her working life at ABC has been full, as she's anchored "PrimeTime Live," "Good Morning America," and "ABC World News Tonight," among others, and has had sit-down interviews with world leaders and accused criminals, like Barack Obama and Amanda Knox, respectively, per her ABC News biography. But long before those names were in our lexicon, Sawyer was proving to be an asset to ABC News, renegotiating her contract for a reported $5 million per year by 1994, as told by The New York Times.
Sawyer is still with the network, at the time of this writing. Her influence on American journalism is undeniable, and her salary after years in the business is just one piece of evidence.
