CBS News anchor Katie Couric will likely leave her post at the CBS Evening News show well before her contract expires, according to a report.

News executives at the firm and people close to the television personality told the Wall Street Journal in a report published online late Wednesday that she may depart, possibly after the presidential inauguration early next year.

Her five year contract, which began in June of 2006, is set to end in 2011. It pays her $15 million annually.

Meanwhile, executives at the television network are looking at prominent news personalities which are near the end of their contracts, the report stated.

Couric came to CBS amid great fanfare that she could help revamp the network's evening newscast after a popular run at rival NBC on the morning program the Today Show. However the show is in last place among rival news programs.