Chris Licht’s Chaotic Tenure Atop CNN Is Over

CNN’s Chris Licht is stepping down following a tumultuous tenure atop the cable news network, where he was seen as having lost the support of the newsroom.

His departure comes after a year of difficult press and public fumbles, including the disastrous town hall event with Donald Trump and a misfire of a morning show reboot, which quickly unraveled with the abrupt departure of Don Lemon. His leadership was also dogged by anemic ratings and a diminution in profits. All told, his stewardship of the network belied the sterling reputation he’d garnered in the industry as a former producer of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, CBS This Morning, and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

“Definite feelings of widespread relief in the building. It just couldn’t last at this point,” one CNN source told Vanity Fair Wednesday morning.

We’re told Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav informed Licht in person early Wednesday morning that his time at CNN was up. Things were moving in that direction over the weekend, and the decision became a fait accompli early this week.

Licht’s fate was apparently sealed last Friday by a devastating profile in The Atlantic by journalist Tim Alberta, which depicted Licht as a detached executive with little vision for how to run the cable news network. Alberta, who spoke to nearly 100 CNN employees in the course of reporting the profile, wrote that everyone “was asking some variation of the same question: Did Licht have any idea what he was doing?” 

In addition, he wrote, “CNN employees had asked me, again and again, to probe for some humility in their leader,” even a “morsel of self-awareness.” Despite Alberta’s bruising assessment, Licht came across in the piece as highly self-assured while criticizing elements of CNN’s journalism prior to his tenure, bragging to Alberta about his workout routine, and defending his leadership of the network. 

As we reported on Monday, following conversations with well-placed sources plugged into the thinking at the top, Zaslav hasn’t happy about where things are at with CNN his concerns had been percolating for several months now. In February, he initiated the conversation about bringing in a chief operating officer to work alongside Licht as a stabilizing force, and to shore up management of the network.

An implicit theme of The Atlantic piece was that Zaslav had been managing Licht to the bone and that Licht had perhaps gotten caught up in executing for a highly demanding boss. Zaslav’s sympathizers would argue that he’s known for being an engaged executive and that CNN ended up requiring more engagement than expected for a unit that represents about 5% of Warner Bros. Discovery’s business.

In either case, the day before The Atlantic piece dropped, Zaslav installed his longtime lieutenant David Leavy to the role of COO. Leavy will become part of an interim leadership team, along with Amy Entelis, EVP of talent and content development; Virginia Moseley, EVP of editorial; and Eric Sherling, EVP of US programming, the network announced. Puck first reported the news of Licht’s exit. “For a number of reasons, it didn’t work out,” Zaslav reportedly told staff Wednesday morning. “And that’s on me, I take full responsibility.” 

The interim leadership trifecta for editorial resembles the strategy put into place after Licht’s predecessor, Jeff Zucker, stepped down early last year amid a controversy triggered by an undisclosed romantic relationship with, Allison Gollust, CNN’s former communications executive and marketing chief. Entelis, who’s been at CNN since 2012 and was the driving force behind the network’s celebrated original films and series, was part of the previous interim leadership team as well, and one longtime CNN journalist told us there’s considerable support for her among talent. 

“The overwhelming sentiment I’ve heard this morning is thank God it’s Amy,” this person said. “David Zaslav would be wise to, if she wants it, consider her [for the top job] for a lot of reasons.”