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Warner Bros. Discovery named former New York Times Company CEO Mark Thompson as CNN’s new chairman and CEO, succeeding Chris Licht as head of the struggling cable news outlet.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav told CNN employees in a staff memo on Wednesday that Thompson — who helped revitalize the Times’ finances by growing the paper’s digital subscriber base as chief executive from 2012 to 2020 — will take the helm at CNN beginning Oct. 9.
Thompson is coming onboard after Licht left the network in June following a rocky,13-month stint at the helm that included the ouster of longtime anchor Don Lemon and an expose in The Atlantic magazine that portrayed Licht as a paranoid manager who was obsessed with his ousted predecessor, Jeff Zucker.
“Mark has been in the news business for more than four decades and, as many of you are aware, he has an exceptional track record of innovation and excellence,” Zaslav wrote in the memo. “I am confident he is exactly the leader we need to take the helm of CNN at this pivotal time.”
Since Licht’s exit, CNN has been run on an interim basis by executives including talent chief Amy Entelis, head of news-gathering Virginia Moseley, programming head Eric Sherling, and head of commercial David Leavy.
The interim braintrust at CNN is believed to be supportive of the move by Zaslav to bring in Thompson. People are “cautiously optimistic” and “happy that Amy Entelis and Virginia Moseley seem to be on board,” a source close to the company told The Post.
Another media source said the hire is “good news for CNN,” adding that “they will have a direction.”
Another British news executive, James Harding, who once ran BBC News, was reportedly in the running for the top slot at CNN. Nevertheless, Zaslav is believed to have wanted Thompson from early on in the recruitment process, the Wall Street Journal reported.
CNN did not disclose Thompson’s new salary. Security filings show that the year before he left The Times, his compensation including stocks and options totaled $6.1 million. His base pay amounted to just over $1 million.
Thompson, 66, has collaborated with Zaslav in years past. Before running the New York Times, Thompson was managing the BBC as its director general.
Under Thompson, the Times introduced NYT Cooking, a subscription-based recipe service. Thompson also oversaw the Times’ acquisition of Wirecutter and the launch of “The Daily,” the popular news-based podcast.
Since leaving the Times, Thompson has served on the boards of German media giant Axel Springer and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and also has served as a co-chair of the International Fund for Public Interest Media.
Thompson started his journalism career in 1979 when he was hired by the BBC as a production trainee. He eventually rose to become showrunner for prestigious newsmagazines such as “Newsnight” and “Panorama.”
The former Times CEO is expected to take the reins of CNN at a trying time for the cable network.
The station lags far behind rivals Fox News and MSNBC in ratings and a string of controversies among now-ousted CNN anchors like Chris Cuomo and Lemon, as well as Zucker, has created instability.
“CNN is a ratings embarrassment,” a source said. “Thompson does seem like a guy who can fix the ratings.”
Licht’s departure was abrupt and his short tenure at the helm was beset by poor ratings, dwindling profits and talent shakeups.
He came into the top job without prior experience in managing a major news operation and was portrayed as insecure about his position in a profile in The Atlantic ahead of his ouster.