Chris Licht, a veteran television producer turned chairman and CEO of CNN, is out, according to the network, ending a brief but tumultuous reign atop the cable news giant.
"I have great respect for Chris, personally and professionally," David Zaslav, president and CEO, Warner Bros. Discovery, 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. 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."
The development was first reported Wednesday by Puck News. The network will be led by an interim team comprised of a trio of executives: Amy Entelis, Virginia Moseley and David Leavy, one of Zaslav's top lieutenants and a longtime Discovery executive who was appointed last week to be CNN Worldwide's chief operating officer.
Licht came to CNN following a successful stint at CBS as executive producer of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and, before that, at morning news program “CBS This Morning.”
His tenure started off with the shuttering of nascent streaming service CNN+ following parent company WarnerMedia’s merger with Discovery, which resulted in layoffs. Licht replaced popular CEO Jeff Zucker with the lofty goal of winning back viewers driven away from the network following former President Donald Trump’s volleys of attacks. That mission caused some internal resentment and, for many, Trump's town hall meeting last month proved to be a bit of a stumble.
Licht’s revamp of CNN’s morning show fell flat, leading to the termination of longtime personality Don Lemon, and ratings plummeted following the Trump town hall. But a lengthy, devastating profile of Licht in The Atlantic proved to be a new low.
In the profile, writer Tim Alberta wrote that Licht had “swaggered” into his new job, telling employees their hostility toward Trump had alienated viewers who saw CNN as the safe center. This put him in the position of fighting to win over Republicans as well as some CNN journalists who believed they were being made scapegoats by Licht’s efforts to please his boss, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav.
“One year into the job, Licht was losing both battles,” Alberta wrote.
The profile also depicted Licht frequently referencing his predecessor Zucker, criticizing the network's coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, and telling former President Trump to "have fun" backstage prior to the now-infamous town hall.
Revenue had also dropped, according to a report from The New York Times. The network reportedly brought in $750 million last year, down from $1.25 billion the year prior.
Licht apologized to the network's employees on an editorial conference call on Monday, pledging to "fight like hell" to wn back their trust.
He said on the call that he was sorry that his role in the news cycle overshadowed the work of CNN's journalists, according to a transcript of the call. He described it as a humbling experience.
Licht said he would work to win their trust, “because you deserve a leader who will be in the trenches, fighting to ensure CNN remains the world's most trusted name in news.”
“CNN is not about me,” he said. “I should not be in the news.”
This is a developing story. Check back later for updates.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.