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The
company said that as it seeks Licht's replacement, it has put in
place an interim leadership team including 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.
The move comes less than a week after the Atlantic magazine
published a critical report about Licht.
In an email to staff Wednesday, Warner Bros. Discovery President
and Chief Executive David Zaslav wrote that the company will be
conducting a wide search, internally and externally, for a new
leader.
“This job was never going to be easy, especially at a time of
great disruption and transformation, and Chris poured his heart
and soul into it," Zaslav wrote.
He added: "Unfortunately, things did not work out the way we had
hoped – and ultimately that’s on me.”
Licht, who most recently served as EVP of special programming at
CBS and executive producer and showrunner for “The Late Show
with Stephen Colbert,” assumed his role in May 2022, replacing
Jeff Zucker, who was forced to resign after failing to disclose
a consensual relationship with a colleague.
Among other criticism, Licht has taken heat for the network's
decision to broadcast a May 10 town hall with former Republican
President Donald Trump, during which Trump repeated falsehoods
about his 2020 election loss, said that if elected he would
pardon many supporters convicted of taking part in a Jan. 6,
2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, and called CNN moderator
Kaitlan Collins a "nasty person."
CNN's ratings have been sagging, even as the company attempts to
get more Republican viewers. Its profit fell beneath $1 billion
in 2022 and is expected to be modestly higher this year than
last, at $938.6 million, according to data from S&P Global
Market Intelligence. Those estimates are for the CNN networks
that operate in the United States, including CNN en Español and
CNN International.
(Reporting by Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio
D'Souza and Nick Zieminski)
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