CNN boss Mark Thompson on Thursday revealed sweeping changes at the embattled network that include 200 job cuts and a pivot to a more digital-centric strategy, the company said.
The layoffs at the Warner Bros Discovery-owned network will amount to 6% of CNN’s workforce – mainly producers, editors and other non-air talent vital to the TV operation.
Thompson, the former New York Times executive who pushed the Gray Lady toward a digital future, laid out his vision for a revamped CNN in an internal memo obtained by The Post.
“Our objective is a simple one: to shift CNN’s gravity towards the platforms and products where the audience themselves are shifting,” Thompson wrote.
As part of the overhaul, Thompson confirmed reports earlier in the week that veteran anchor Wolf Blitzer will be moved from his afternoon slot to host a morning show with Pamela Brown at 10 a.m. – a decision that will cost frequent Donald Trump critic Jim Acosta his morning gig.
Acosta is expected to be exiled to a midnight shift, a decision that has left him fuming and reportedly threatening to quit.
With the job cuts, CNN seeks to streamline its cable TV lineup and enhance its digital subscription offerings to better align with evolving viewer trends.
Thompson said CNN has started development on a new streaming service for news programming similar to its TV product.
CNN also plans to launch a new lifestyle-oriented product this year, the memo said, adding that CNN is looking to open up and fill at least 100 new posts in the coming months as part of the shift to digital.
“Some of today’s announcements mean significant new job opportunities at CNN, but others will lead to the loss of some valued colleagues,” Thompson wrote in the memo. “That too is an unwelcome but inevitable part of the change process.”
CNN declined to comment.
In October, CNN introduced a digital paywall requiring some users to pay $3.99 per month for access to its content. The move aimed to create a new digital revenue stream as the network looks to offset the decline in TV.
The digital efforts were financed by a $70 million investment from WBD, Thompson added.
“This is a moment where the digital story feels like an existential question,” Thompson told the New York Times. “If we do not follow the audiences to the new platforms with real conviction and scale, our future prospects will not be good.”
Warner Bros Discovery is undergoing significant restructuring and said last month that it plans to split its cable TV networks from its streaming and studio operations, forming two separate units.
Under the new structure, the cable TV business — including CNN, TNT and Animal Planet — will be consolidated into a unit named Global Linear Networks.
“In the end, this is about CNN being — as it has been in its history — an indispensable way in which many, many millions of people get their news,” Thompson told the Times.
The shakeup comes as CNN – which has attempted to tack toward the center since WBD acquired the network in a merger in 2022 – lags far behind cable rivals Fox News and left-leaning MSNBC.
CNN’s viewership has only gotten worse since Trump won the election and its web traffic has also suffered, hitting a two-year low in December, according to analytics firm Comscore. The network recorded 90.5 million unique visits that month – down from a peak of 175.5 million in March 2020, at the start of the pandemic, the firm said.
“This is a moment where the digital story feels like an existential question,” Thompson told the New York Times. “If we do not follow the audiences to the new platforms with real conviction and scale, our future prospects will not be good.”
Warner Bros Discovery is undergoing significant restructuring and said last month that it plans to split its cable TV networks from its streaming and studio operations, forming two separate units.
Under the new structure, the cable TV business — including CNN, TNT and Animal Planet — will be consolidated into a unit named Global Linear Networks.
“In the end, this is about CNN being — as it has been in its history — an indispensable way in which many, many millions of people get their news,” Thompson told the Times.
The shakeup comes as CNN – which has attempted to tack toward the center since WBD acquired the network in a merger in 2022 – lags far behind cable rivals Fox News and left-leaning MSNBC.
CNN’s viewership has only gotten worse since Trump won the election and its web traffic has also suffered, hitting a two-year low in December, according to analytics firm Comscore. The network recorded 90.5 million unique visits that month – down from a peak of 175.5 million in March 2020, at the start of the pandemic, the firm said.
CNN told the Times other news networks have seen similar declines.
