While Nexstar employees across the country are updating their resumes and wondering how they’ll pay the mortgage, the man at the top is taking a victory lap.

Nexstar released its fourth-quarter earnings report, and if you listen to CEO Perry Sook, everything is coming up roses. The company reported a massive $1.29 billion in net revenue for Q4. Looking ahead to 2026, the "Death Star" is projecting EBITDA guidance in the range of $1.95 billion to $2.05 billion.

That is a staggering amount of cash.

In a statement that likely tastes like ash to the hundreds of staffers recently cut from stations coast-to-coast, Sook praised the company’s "solid financial results" and "bold steps."

He bragged about:

Completing distribution renewals.
Growth in non-political advertising.
The "strongest year ever" for NewsNation viewership.
The CW exceeding financial expectations (and somehow becoming the 10th most-watched network).

Sook’s eyes are also firmly on the future—specifically the acquisition of TEGNA and the massive windfall expected from the 2026 mid-term election cycles. He noted that the plan includes "continuing to optimize our business operations," which, in corporate-speak, is often just a fancy way of saying "more layoffs."

It’s the same old story in TV news: record profits for the shareholders, "thoughts and prayers" for the journalists.

Nexstar is sitting on billions of dollars, yet they continue to slash positions, consolidate roles, and leave local newsrooms shorthanded. It’s hard to swallow a "commitment to fact-based, unbiased reporting" when the people responsible for doing that reporting are being shown the door to ensure the EBITDA stays in that "optimized" range.

If the company is doing so "great," why can't they afford to keep the people who actually build the product?

As always, at the Death Star, it’s Shareholders First, Journalists Last.