With CNN’s ratings lagging far behind rivals Fox and MSNBC, several network stars are being offered no pay raises or salary cuts with the message of ‘take it or leave it.’
Former BBC News director Mark Thompson was hired to revive the network in 2023 and his strategy appears to include cutting costs after Chris Licht was fired.
It’s part of what’s rumored to be a winter of layoffs that many at the network fear will be a ‘bloodbath,’ with one source saying ‘the place needs to be turned upside down.’
For starters, star anchors Jake Tapper and Wolf Blitzer – making $7 million and $3 million, respectively – signed new deals at the same price, with an agent joking that ‘flat is the new up.’
Fox News exile Chris Wallace – signed for the network’s flop streaming service and now shunted to his own weekend show – has been offered a new deal at a ‘significant’ pay cut from the $8.5 million a year he was making, The Ankler reported, adding that he was seen in Thompson’s office this week.
With CNN ‘s ratings lagging far behind rivals Fox and MSNBC, several network stars are being offered no pay raises or salary cuts with the message of ‘take it or leave it’ under new CEO Mark Thompson
Fox News exile Chris Wallace – signed for the network’s flop streaming service and now shunted to his own weekend show – has been offered a new deal at a ‘significant’ pay cut from the $8.5 million a year he was making
‘They have been extremely tough on contract negotiations. There is a lot of take it or leave it,’ an agent said.
It has many wondering what will be next for $18 million host Anderson Cooper, as well as Erin Burnett ($5 million) and Dana Bash, whose deals come up in the next two years.
Where the network may reportedly try to really slash is with the network’s correspondents, who make in the mid-to-high six figures and rarely appear on air and when they do, they’re not to Thompson’s liking.
‘Mark has made it known he doesn’t like the conventional style of TV packages we are doing,’ an unnamed journalist told The Ankler.
‘He wants people who are edgy. He doesn’t want people who look like your traditional anchorman, and it turns out those [edgy] people are cheaper.’
Thompson may make big cuts to the network’s DC bureau, getting rid of politics coverage for more entertainment and travel, while attempting to merge on-air and digital staffing.
‘If you are not getting an offer several months out, you are in a precarious place. That anxiety has trickled down and out and across the place,’ a CNN staffer said.
It will all be an attempt to save a network averaging just 853,000 viewers in September, down 21% from the month before and well below Fox News (2.5 million) and MSNBC (1.4 million).
Star anchor Jake Tapper did not receive a raise from his $7 million a year salary in his new contract
Wolf Blitzer also renewed with the network without a bump in his $3 million-a-year check
‘It’s not working because no one is watching,’ one anonymous staffer said. ‘It needs a radical overhaul.’
DailyMail.com has reached out to CNN for comment.
Thompson was hired to lead the network’s strategy, operations and business units, and act as editor-in-chief, ultimately responsible for all CNN content and overseeing its 4,000 employees worldwide.
With Thompson, WBD boss David Zaslav is turning to an executive with experience at the highest levels of the news business, unlike Licht – a former TV producer who had worked on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.
The veteran media executive began his career at the British Broadcasting Corporation, which he joined in 1979 as a production trainee, eventually becoming editor of the Nine O’Clock News and Panorama and later, director of television.
He left the BBC in 2002 to become chief executive of Channel 4, but returned when he was appointed director-general in May 2004, a position he held until 2012.
At the BBC, Thompson presided over a sprawling set of newsrooms for TV, radio and digital, and led the development of the BBC iPlayer, the world’s first streaming service from a major broadcaster.
His appointment at CNN followed a tumultuous 18 months of palace intrigue at the news network, starting with the ouster of longtime boss Jeff Zucker last year.
Zucker resigned from CNN in February 2022 after it emerged he had been in an undisclosed romance with his top lieutenant, Allison Gollust, CNN’s executive vice president and one of the network’s highest-ranking leaders.
WBD, which completed the merger to become CNN’s new parent company in April 2022, tapped Licht as the new network boss – but his tenure was marked by controversy.
Unlike Zucker, who enjoyed loyal support in the CNN newsroom, Licht’s tenure was marked by staff discontent that at times verged on open revolt.
