CNN CEO Chris Licht Resigns From Network After Staff Revolt

CNN CEO Chris Licht resigned this week after a damaging Atlantic profile alienated network staff and major senior figures, RadarOnline.com has learned.

Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN’s parent company, announced Licht’s sudden resignation on Wednesday.

“I have great respect for Chris, personally and professionally,” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said in a statement confirming Licht’s departure from the network.

“The job of leading CNN was never going to be easy, especially at a time of huge disruption and transformation, and he has poured his heart and soul into it,” Zaslav added.

The New York Post reported that Zaslav first informed CNN staffers that Licht was out at the network during an early morning editorial meeting.

“I met with Chris and he will be leaving CNN,” Zaslav reportedly said, according to former CNN media reporter Brian Stelter. “We’re in the process of conducting a wide search, internally and externally, for a new leader.”

“I take full responsibility,” Zaslav continued. “We wish him every success and all the best.”

“I hope they get the leader they deserve,” Licht reportedly told a network source after the news of his departure from CNN broke on Wednesday morning.

As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Licht’s resignation this week just came days after the Atlantic published a “blistering” and “embarrassing” 15,000-word profile on the now-former CNN CEO on Friday.

The devastating profile, which came more than one year after Licht took over at the struggling news network following Jeff Zucker’s departure in February 2022, depicted Licht as “aloof” and “completely disconnected” from his staffers.

Sources at the network also said that they believed Licht was “done” and “over” at the network as a result of the 15,000-word profile.

“I feel like a quarterback without a coach,” one unnamed network insider said shortly after the piece was published on Friday. “There’s no coming back from that profile.”

Licht acknowledged the frustrations being felt by staffers in recent weeks and called a meeting on Monday morning to discuss the Atlantic profile – but his subsequent resignation likely came as a surprise because the now-former CNN CEO reportedly signaled that he had no plans to leave the already struggling network.

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"I know these past few days have been very hard for this group,” Licht said at the time. “I fully recognize that this news cycle and my role in it overshadowed the incredible week of reporting that we just had, and distracted from the work of every single journalist in this org. And for that, I am sorry."

"As I read that article, I found myself thinking, CNN is not about me," he continued. "I should not be in the news unless it's taking arrows for you. Your work is what should be written about."

"To those whose trust I've lost, I will fight like hell to win it back,” Licht concluded, “because you deserve a leader who will be in the trenches, fighting to ensure CNN remains the world's most trusted name in news."