CNN started a long-expected spherical of layoffs on Wednesday as president Chris Licht and different executives at WarnerBros. Discovery trim prices on the struggling cable information community.
Licht knowledgeable CNN workers of the cuts in a memo and acknowledged “will probably be a troublesome time for everybody” on the firm.
“It's extremely onerous to say goodbye to anyone member of the CNN staff, a lot much less many. I not too long ago described this course of as a intestine punch, as a result of I do know that's the way it feels for all of us,” Licht mentioned within the memo, which was shared on Twitter by CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy.
Licht mentioned the pink slips would start with “a restricted variety of people, largely a few of our paid contributors” as a part of a “recalibrated reporting technique.”
The corporate will start notifying different impacted workers on Thursday, with extra particulars from Licht on CNN’s subsequent steps to comply with by that afternoon.
It wasn’t instantly clear what number of of CNN’s roughly 4,000 workers worldwide are being chopped.
The Put up has reached out to CNN for remark.
The cuts have been extensively anticipated since Licht took over for ousted CNN boss Jeff Zucker this yr. To date, Licht has reduce ties with longtime community mainstay Brian Stelter and shifted Don Lemon to co-host CNN’s revamped morning present.
WarnerBros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is aiming to slash $3 billion from the company large’s books within the aftermath of its merger. As of August, the firm had some $55 billion in debt on its books.
Licht signaled layoffs had been imminent in a memo to staffers in late October, telling staff that the inner shakeup would “speed up” by the tip of the yr. On the time, the CNN president asserted the cuts had been crucial to organize the community for worsening macroeconomic circumstances.
“There may be widespread concern over the worldwide financial outlook, and we should issue that threat into our long-term planning,” Licht mentioned. “All this collectively will imply noticeable change to this group. That, by definition, is unsettling. These adjustments won't be straightforward as a result of they are going to have an effect on individuals, budgets, and tasks.”
“After we emerge on the opposite aspect, CNN will probably be a stronger, extra nimble group, able to climate regardless of the world economic system throws at us and to develop into the longer term,” Licht added within the October memo.
Earlier this month, CNN staffers reportedly grilled Licht about his cost-cutting plan throughout a tense city corridor assembly. A CNN supply instructed Fox Information there have been “enormous nerves” in regards to the spherical of cuts.
Licht additionally pushed again on the assertion that Zaslav was dictating adjustments at CNN, the place Licht is steering the community towards fact-based, nonpartisan protection.
“I personal the imaginative and prescient for this place,” Licht mentioned. “I didn't take this job to take dictation from anyone.”
This can be a breaking story. Test again for updates.
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