Ex CNN CEO Jeff Zucker Meets with Amazon's Jeff Bezos as Part of a Possible Media Comeback
June 4 2023, Published 1:04 p.m. ET
Jeff Zucker met with Amazon's Jeff Bezos as rumors begin to circulate about the disgraced CNN CEO's return to media, RadarOnline.com has learned.
In Zucker's latest business venture, the investment vehicle Redbird IMI, he has reportedly told confidants he is interested in building a company that owns several digital publications targeted at specific audiences - not too dissimilar to how Rupert Murdock owns several outlets targeting conservative readers and viewers.
According to the New York Times, he has held talks with owners of digital-media start-ups, but those conversations are still in their early stages, and nothing is set in stone quite yet.
He is now one of at least three potential suitors exploring a deal to take a majority stake in Graydon Carter's media company, Air Mail.
Zucker and Bezos have also had conversations regarding the Washington Post.
One company the former media CEO is not in talks to acquire is his former employer, CNN.
According to people familiar with Zucker's plans, although he has told some associates he would be interested in acquiring CNN should the opportunity present itself one day, he worries that the network's current owners, Warner Bros. Discovery, may have damaged the network beyond repair through several cost-cutting measures in recent months.
In late 2020, Zucker and Andrew Morse, CNN’s former digital chief, met with the umbrella company, Emerson Collective, to have preliminary conversations about a potential spinout of the network.
The deal eventually fell through, and AT&T ultimately turned to Discovery to purchase its media empire, including the news network.
In January 2022, RadarOnline broke the story that Zucker and CNN Executive Vice President/Chief Marketing Officer Allison Gollust are reported to have been in a secret romance that dated back years.
Their "cozy arrangement" was dredged up after the two initially put off taking appropriate action when former network anchor Chris Cuomo was found to have aided his brother – disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo – amid the latter's sexual misconduct scandal.
Zucker was ultimately forced to resign from his position following the exposé.
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Multiple sources – including individuals from CNN, all of whom refused to comment on the record for fear of reprisal – told us that Zucker and Gollust were romantically involved and had been for quite some time.
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