Warner Bros Discovery announced on Wednesday morning that Chris Licht is leaving CNN, where he led the news network for just over a year. The parent company stated that they are now seeking a replacement for Licht. In the meantime, Amy Entelis, Virginia Moseley, Eric Sherling, and David Leavy will be leading CNN.
Licht’s departure coincides with a rebellion among CNN’s talent and staff. His tenure was plagued with programming missteps and poor ratings. Licht received heavy criticism recently when CNN hosted a town hall with former President Trump, which was full of the former president’s supporters. Although the event drew 3.3 million viewers, CNN’s ratings dropped sharply afterwards, with the network’s primetime viewership falling below that of the much smaller right-wing outlet Newsmax two days later.
However, it was an unflattering 15,000-word profile of Licht in The Atlantic titled “Inside the Meltdown at CNN” that may have sealed his fate. Although he apologized to staff, top executives at Warner Bros. Discovery, including CEO David Zaslav, were unhappy with the article and its aftermath.
“I have great respect for Chris, personally and professionally,” said Zaslav 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 move comes shortly after David Leavy was named the network’s new chief operating officer in a bid to allow Licht to focus more on programming. Licht previously launched “Morning Joe” as executive producer and later became executive producer and showrunner of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on CBS.
The full release from Warner Bros. Discovery is available to read below.
New York, NY – June 7, 2023 – Warner Bros. Discovery (Nasdaq: WBD) today announced that Chris Licht, Chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide, has stepped down, effective immediately.
As the company undertakes an active search for a replacement, it has put in place a strong interim leadership team comprising seasoned programming leaders Amy Entelis, EVP of talent and content development, Virginia Moseley, EVP of editorial, and Eric Sherling, EVP of US programming, as well as David Leavy, chief operating officer, on the commercial side.
“I have great respect for Chris, personally and professionally,” said David Zaslav, president and CEO, Warner Bros. Discovery. “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.”
Licht assumed his position in May 2022, following a distinguished career in broadcast and network television, most recently as EVP of special programming at CBS and executive producer and showrunner for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
Prior to this, he was vice president of programming for CBS News and executive producer of the network’s morning news program, “CBS This Morning,” which he helped launch in 2012. Licht was also the co-creator and original executive producer of MSNBC’s popular morning news show, “Morning Joe.”
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of MSNBC and CNBC.
