Chris Licht, the newest CEO at CNN, has just been canned at the network for failing to turn the network around.
CNN CEO Chris Licht is out after a little more than a year on the job, as he failed to turn around the long-troubled news network. He stepped down effective immediately, Fox News Digital confirmed on Wednesday.
“I have great respect for Chris, personally and professionally,” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said in a statement.
“The job of leading CNN was never going to be easy, especially at a time of huge disruption and transformation, and he has poured his heart and soul into it,” Zaslav continued. “While we know we have work to do as we look to identify a new leader, we have absolute confidence in the team we have in place and will continue to fight for CNN and its world class journalism.”
Licht was hand-picked by Zaslav last year to replace Jeff Zucker, who was forced out ahead of a long-planned merger that put CNN under Zaslav’s control. Now Licht is out of a job less than two years later and the future of Zaslav’s CNN remains unclear. CNN executives Amy Entelis, Virginia Mosely, and Eric Sherling are expected to serve as the acting leadership team.
Zaslav’s longtime ally David Leavy was recently brought in as chief operating officer, which signaled to many that Licht wasn’t long for the job.
Puck’s Dylan Byers, a former CNN reporter who has been covering Licht’s issues for months, first reported on the news that Licht was out. Fox News Digital confirmed quickly Licht’s exit.
Parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, Licht and CNN did not respond to requests for comment.
The article goes on to detail some of the missteps made by Licht and that apparently includes going a town hall with Trump. The liberal media were outraged when he did that and Fox News suggests that was the beginning of the end.
Regardless, I will always remember Licht as the CEO who fired Brian Stelter and eventually Don Lemon. Hopefully the next CEO will follow in his footsteps and get rid of Acosta too.