After the departure of Jeff Zucker, who resigned over relationship revelations, Mr Licht was chosen by Mr Zaslav to lead CNN. Mr Licht is well-known in TV, having been the executive producer for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and holding senior roles at CBS News and MSNBC. However, his tenure at CNN had an unstable start as he announced CNN+’s closure, resulting in many job losses. Viewership decreased under his leadership, leading to even further programming missteps and job cuts. Brian Stelter, CNN’s media correspondent, attacked the network’s bosses in an on-air monologue during his final show before he was made redundant. Following Mr Licht’s departure, Warner Bros Discovery put an interim leadership team in place and appointed David Leavy as the Chief Operating Officer to oversee the commercial side of CNN’s operations.
