- Warner Bros. Discovery named Mark Thompson, the former New York Times CEO, to lead CNN.
- WBD CEO David Zaslav faces economic headwinds, an ad slump, and a Hollywood writers' strike.
- Insider mapped out the most powerful people under Zaslav leading WBD film and TV studios, HBO, and more.
David Zaslav is continuing his revamp of Warner Bros. Discovery, naming respected news vet Mark Thompson August 30 as chairman and CEO of CNN.
Thompson joins less than three months after the exit of Chris Licht, whose brief tenure at the helm of CNN was marked by a series of crises, plunging ratings, and a demoralized newsroom. WBD said that the four executives who stewarded the organization after Licht's ouster — David Leavy, Amy Entelis, Virginia Moseley, and Eric Sherling —will remain in their roles.
The new CNN chief faces steep challenges in turning around a business that, like the rest of cable news, is in decline. WBD has said CNN is not for sale, and Zaslav wrote in a memo to staff that Thompson "is exactly the leader we need to take the helm of CNN at this pivotal time."
One year after the merger that created the media giant, Zaslav is working to rebuild the company. He's focused on churning out cash to pay down WBD's massive debt load, but he has a tough road, with the advertising market still in the doldrums, a writers' and actors' strike stifling Hollywood production, and questions swirling about streaming's profit potential.
A lot is riding on the success of streaming service Max, which rolled out to consumers May 23, offering content from HBO Max, which launched three years ago under WarnerMedia, and Discovery+. The goal is to win new subscribers (and retain HBO and HBO Max subscribers) with Max's broad array of high-quality, well-known content that offers something for everyone in the family.
Other priorities include generating revenue by selling more TV shows to other platforms, expanding film output in a time of frugality, and renewing sports rights with the NBA in an increasingly competitive and expensive market for sports programming.
Many of the execs Zaslav's assembled to help him carry out these tasks are former colleagues from his Discovery days, particularly his top strategic lieutenants, JB Perrette, Gunnar Wiedenfels, and Bruce Campbell. Chief People Officer Adria Alpert Romm goes even farther back with Zaslav, having worked alongside him at NBCUniversal (reporting jointly to Alpert Romm and Zaslav is Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer Asif Sadiq, who joined WarnerMedia shortly before its merger with Discovery was announced).
While Kathleen Finch has joined the mix with her portfolio of Discovery channels, top TV execs from the WarnerMedia regime — HBO and Max's Casey Bloys and Warner Bros. TV studios chief Channing Dungey — are still in place. (Many of Bloys' team are longtime HBO execs, including Meredith Gertler, who reports jointly to him and Perrette.) The company's film studios, however, have four new leaders: Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca at Warner Bros. Pictures, and James Gunn and Peter Safran at DC Studios, whose tentpole films are key to Zaslav's box office strategy.
In April, Insider mapped out more than 100 top execs under Zaslav working to build WBD into a challenger for Netflix and Disney — here are the leaders he's relying on to execute the company's transformation.
This story and chart have been updated to reflect Thompson's August 30 appointment; other names on the chart reflect April reporting and will be updated. Claire Atkinson contribued to an earlier version.
