The seminar was about media leadership. Dozens of students who filled Yale classrooms in April will learn about business from a man who has been the center of attention in TV control rooms and corporate boardrooms for decades, until he retired in style last year. was there for
What they got about the exit was amazing candor.
Jeff Zucker, the nine-year president of CNN, told the group he believed the station’s former owners used his relationship with Alison Gorast, who was present, as an excuse to fire him. , said three people familiar with his remarks. .
Zucker said he had not disclosed his relationship with CNN’s former public affairs director Gorast in front of students who were scheduled to speak on the same day with other high-profile media executives, including Disney’s Bob Iger. , likened to unfair treatment. over dangerous weapons.
“I gave them a gun and they shot me with it,” Zucker said, according to people familiar with the matter.
Zucker’s comparison of his forced exit to a gunshot wound highlights the depth of his frustration over his last days on a network he’d tightly controlled for years.
For Zucker, 58, the complaint was nothing new. He often compares memos about his media business to his former colleagues and industry acquaintances, many of whom call to complain about the state of CNN.
But his complaints have become more frequent lately, and he has made no secret of his dissatisfaction with the terms of his departure from CNN and the poor evaluation of current leader Chris Licht’s performance. In some ways, he now acts as a grievance channel for current and former employees of the news network, according to many people who have spoken to him.
Mr. Zucker’s criticism may come as second-hand, second-hand criticism to the executives who run CNN. But the numbers are also painful. The news division, which once regularly made more than $1 billion a year, made just $750 million last year. And ratings fell more than 30% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same point during the 2020 presidential election, when Donald J. Trump, a major figure in cable news ratings, was still in the White House. It is said that Based on Nielsen data.
As it geared up to cover its 2024 campaign, the network made some unforced errors. CNN hosted a town hall with Trump in New Hampshire last month, but was criticized for spreading misinformation.Licht’s leadership and network steering pain points analyzed in 15,000 words Atlantic article It was published on Friday.
Many of the anchors Zucker hired or promoted, including former City Hall hosts Jake Tapper and Kaitlan Collins, are still prominent in CNN’s line-up. But he found himself banished from air traffic control during major news cycles, including the indictment of former President Trump and the opening act for the 2024 presidential election.
But he wasn’t hiding. He and Golast traveled to Las Vegas to see Taylor Swift in concert and last month attended the Sports Emmy Awards with former Today anchor Matt Lauer at the invitation of Bryant Gumbel. His new office in Manhattan, with a life-sized statue of the Incredible Hulk towering over the entrance, is just blocks away from CNN’s former New York headquarters on Columbus Circle.
And he’s spending $1 billion on acquisitions in the digital media, sports, entertainment and news industries to launch a new venture called RedBird IMI to get his next move off the ground.
This article about Mr. Zucker is based on interviews with more than 40 media industry colleagues who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid jeopardizing their relationship with Mr. Zucker. He declined to comment, but explained his attitude to CNN through a spokesperson.
Zucker’s spokesman, Lisa Heller, said: “It’s not entirely surprising that Jeff Zucker, who led CNN to unprecedented success, had deep reservations about the network’s direction after he left office. No,’ he said. She added that it’s no surprise that he is “frequently asked, both professionally and on a regular basis, by former colleagues of his about what he thinks about CNN now.”
A few months after leaving CNN in February 2022, Zucker met with his successor, Licht. The organizers of the meeting, an industry group that knows both men, had lunch at Mr. Zucker’s house on Tony Hedges Lane in Amagansett, hoping for clearer weather.
Mr. Zucker has been a private critic of Mr. Licht’s leadership of CNN, and the two have not seen each other since Mr. Zucker was ousted, according to people familiar with the conversation.
The get-together didn’t create much of a friendship among media executives who had been friendly in the world of clubbing TV news. Licht wanted a settlement. Mr. Zucker was asked for advice. But after the dinner, the former CNN chairman complained that Licht didn’t take any of his criticisms into consideration, according to people familiar with his feelings after the dinner.
“For Jeff, this is all very sad,” said Kenneth Lehrer, co-founder of HuffPost and former chairman of Buzzfeed. “He should get on with his life. It’s disappointing to see.”
Lerer has a unique perspective on the situation. He is a close friend of CNN owner Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav and was once friendly with Zucker.
Zucker’s criticism unsettled executives at Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns CNN, according to people familiar with their thinking. They suspect Zucker leaked unsavory information about the network’s operations to the press.
Zucker also appears to be a misstep on the part of former CNN parent AT&T and its executives, including former WarnerMedia CEO Jason Killer, according to many industry insiders who have spoken to Zucker in recent months. He speaks frankly about it.
Warner Bros. Discovery executives believe Zucker is waging a proxy war against Licht and undermining his leadership from afar, according to three people familiar with the company’s thinking. made it
Zucker’s criticism comes at a particularly inconvenient time for Warner Bros. Discovery, which was formed last year from the merger of CNN’s then-parent WarnerMedia and Discovery, home of “Doctor Martin.” . Known for movies like Pimple His Poppers and 90 Day Fiancé, he’s still trying to keep his CNN strong.
A spokeswoman for Warner Bros. Discovery said in a statement that the company is confident in the direction of the network and in Licht’s leadership. “We have set ourselves a high bar and we know it will take time to complete the important work in progress, but we have great confidence in the progress Chris and the team are making. We share a belief in strategy,” the statement said. Said.
At the root of the dissatisfaction is the tension between Zucker and Mr. Zaslav, who named Licht to replace Mr. Zaslav as CNN head. The pair, who were once great friends, business associates and regulars at East Hampton Golf Club, have been estranged since Mr Zucker’s ouster, people familiar with the relationship say.
Mr. Zaslav visited CNN’s Manhattan headquarters in March and criticized Mr. Zucker’s network leadership in a meeting with Mr. Licht’s lieutenants, according to people familiar with Warner Bros. Discovery. At the meeting, Zaslav said Zucker’s complaints were ironic, given that Zucker once told CNN executives that “there is only one executive who can do the job for Licht.” Told. He never left the network.
Since taking over CNN’s parent company, Mr. Zaslav has fought back, telling employees at a private meeting that there was a “time” when CNN became an “advocacy network.” He is a harsh critic of President Trump, who has brought in huge ratings. Zucker disagrees with that characterization, according to people who have spoken to him, who said the agency’s policy of pointing out Trump’s lies led to journalistic and economic success. He believes.
At another rally this spring, Zucker said the time he left CNN was the most difficult time of his life, according to people familiar with Zucker’s remarks, and the episode made his bond with Gorst even stronger. He added that he made it stronger. He also said he did not deserve the punishment he received.
When Zucker was fired from CNN last year, he and the network’s parent negotiated a statement citing his failure to disclose his relationship with Gorst as the reason for his departure. “I was required to disclose it when the incident began, but I did not. I was wrong,” Zucker wrote in a memo to then-employees.
Two people familiar with Zucker’s departure from CNN said he took part in an internal investigation into Zucker’s conduct by the law firms Cravath, Swain and Moore, which included advising former New York Governor Andrew M. Multiple violations of CNN’s standards and practices were found. Cuomo.
Mr. Zucker’s spokesman, Heller, said Mr. Zucker did not advise Mr. Cuomo.
“As I have said many times, Zucker never advised Andrew Cuomo, directly or indirectly,” she said. “The only reason he was asked to resign was because he didn’t disclose the relationship.”
For Zucker, who has held senior management positions since he was executive producer of Today in his 20s, his abrupt departure from CNN meant a stark change. He soon began exploring his options and gravitated towards the familiar realms of sports and media.Many years ago Mr. Zucker Said He was a reporter for the campus newspaper, Harvard Crimson, when he was an undergraduate, but he has not taken a single day off since graduating from college.
Shortly after being kicked off CNN, Mr. Zucker began planning his next move, meeting with advisers, former colleagues and industry heavyweights in New York’s core clubs and posh bars like the Four Seasons in Los Angeles. But while Mr. Zucker was making plans for his future, he was thinking about his past.
In the summer, he traveled to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for an off-the-record gathering of media executives. During a hearthside chat at the event, he was asked for his views on CNN’s current direction, according to two people familiar with his remarks. said to have criticized
A new initiative, the investment vehicle Redbird IMI, is interested in starting a company that owns digital publications aimed at specific audiences, like Condé Nast, publisher of Vogue and The New Yorker, he said. He speaks out of his heart. He has held talks with the owners of digital media startups, but has yet to reach an agreement. He is now one of at least three suitors seeking a majority stake in Air Mail, a media company founded by former Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Graydon Carter.
In recent months, he has also met with Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, according to three people familiar with the conversation.
One company Zucker isn’t in talks to buy is CNN, according to people familiar with his plans. He has told some people he is interested in buying the network if it ever goes on sale, but CNN’s current owner Warner Bros. You are lamenting to other parties that you are doing so much damage to your
But Zucker has considered a deal with the network before. At the end of 2020, he and former CNN digital head Andrew Morse met with the Emerson Collective, the umbrella company founded by Lauren Powell Jobs, for preliminary discussions about a possible spinout of the network. . Mr. Zucker informed AT&T executives of his interest in the Emerson Collective without informing his then-boss, Mr. Killer. The deal never materialized, and AT&T ultimately turned to Discovery.
There are signs that Mr. Zucker believes he may attack media organizations again. He has told employees he is open to a management position at one of the companies he has acquired, and many of his closest friends believe he could still land a job at another big company.
Zucker’s professional comeback has some precedent. After being fired as CEO of NBCUniversal in 2010, Zucker worked with former Today host Katie Couric to create Disney’s new daytime show. called It’s a big chance.
He then got a job at CNN. “Katie” ended the broadcast after two years.
