Chris Licht, the embattled chief executive and chairman of CNN is out!
His brief one-year tenure at the network was stained by a series of severe missteps and he will depart the company.
David Zaslav, the chief executive of parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, said,
I met with Chris and he will be leaving CNN.
Licht’s departure, which came only days after a devastating 15,000-word profile in The Atlantic, capped a tumultuous year for CNN, marked by layoffs, abysmally low ratings, and sub-basement employee morale.
Licht apologized to staffers yesterday, saying he did not recognize himself when reading portions of the story and that he was sorry for having distracted from the newsroom’s work.
Zaslav said,
For a number of reasons things didn’t work out and that’s unfortunate.
It’s really unfortunate. And ultimately that’s on me. And I take full responsibility for that.”
Zaslav told employees that the company is
in the process of conducting a wide search.”
He said that it will “take a while.” Licht’s exit was announced live this morning on air.
CNN announces Chris Licht's departure on air pic.twitter.com/Attt6UAlsN
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 7, 2023
(via CNN)
