The merger had just been completed in April when the company announced it was shuttering streaming service CNN+ a month after it was launched.ĭavid Zaslav, chief executive of Warner Bros. The cuts to the organization also come after CNN’s former parent company, WarnerMedia, merged earlier this year with Discovery, creating a media juggernaut laced with billions of dollars in debt and a need to slash costs across the board. Prior to this year, the last major cuts to occur at the organization were in 2018 when less than 50 people lost their jobs as the company restructured its digital business. Social media companies such as Meta, which also rely on advertising revenue, have also executed layoffs in recent months.ĬNN, which still posts profits in the hundreds of millions of dollars, was spared from the cuts that wreaked havoc on the industry during the pandemic. Disney said last week the company needed to restructure, and AMC Networks announced Tuesday that it would cut 20% of its staff. Other media organizations have also cut costs as they work to best position themselves for the stormy economic climate. Licht noted in October, when he signaled large cuts were coming, that there is “widespread concern over the global economic outlook” and that CNN “must factor that risk into long-term planning.” The layoffs come as media companies are being battered by brutal economic headwinds that have taken a bat to the advertising sector. When the layoffs commenced on Wednesday, Licht described the process as one that would be a “gut punch” to the network, telling employees in a memo that “it is incredibly hard to say goodbye to any one member of the CNN team, much less many.”Įmployees at the company had been anxiously bracing for the layoffs since Licht informed them last month that “unsettling” changes lie ahead. newsgathering, operations, research, creative marketing, and programming. Licht also announced several other divisions were undergoing restructuring, including U.S. Licht said CNN will still produce news for the channel, but will “look to develop a far more robust digital platform for CNNE with the aim of launching it in 2024.” Licht said that other changes included CNN International “reorganizing some of its teams and bureaus.” And he said, effective immediately, CNN International’s 5 pm ET show “will be replaced by a simulcast of CNN US for that half hour.”ĬNN en Español, Licht said, will move to diversify its audience beyond news. “Overall, we will engage contributors who are subject-matter experts that expand and diversify the viewpoints we bring our audience.” “In some areas, we will rely more on our CNN journalists,” Licht wrote. Licht said that the network was “also shifting our approach to paid contributors,” after cutting from its stable of commentators on Wednesday. “I know the HLN audience will miss her and the other HLN talent.” “I want to take a moment to thank Robin Meade - she is not only an exceptionally popular anchor, but also one of the longest-running morning hosts in history,” Licht wrote in his memo.
HLN will instead simulcast “CNN This Morning” and, Licht said, HLN’s crime programming will move under the purview of Kathleen Finch, a programming executive at Warner Bros. Licht said that, starting December 6, CNN “will no longer produce live programming for HLN.”
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The series of changes, which came after Licht conducted a months-long review of CNN’s business after taking over in May as the network’s head, notably included the ending of live programming on HLN, CNN’s longtime sister channel.
A CNN spokesperson declined to say how many employees were let go, but the cuts targeted several areas of the company, including some on-air talent and members of management. The layoffs, which started Wednesday and were expected to impact hundreds of employees, largely had been completed by Thursday afternoon. “The changes we are making today are necessary and will make us stronger and better positioned to place big bets going forward without fear of failure,” Licht wrote in his memo. CNN on Thursday executed sweeping layoffs and implemented a series of changes that impacted multiple divisions across the news organization, including ending live programming on HLN, the company’s chief executive, Chris Licht, said in a memo to employees.
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