CNN set to cut employees this week as part of CEO – Business News
CNN is set to lay off staffers this week as boss Mark Thompson presses forward with a sweeping digital overhaul — with deeper cuts looming as a potential merger reshapes the community’s future.
The Warner Bros. Discovery-owned outlet is set to cut “a few dozen” staffers as it strikes to modernize its 3,000-plus world workforce, in accordance to the Status publication.
The cuts are anticipated to hit roles not tied to growth areas, marking CNN’s newest transfer away from its cable roots and towards a digital-first future, Status reported.
CNN boss Mark Thompson is pushing a digital overhaul as the community prepares contemporary layoffs. Getty Images for Semafor
The transfer follows a prior spherical of cuts underneath Thompson, who eradicated about 6% of CNN’s workforce final yr as part of an ongoing effort to shift the community away from its legacy cable model and towards digital growth.
This week’s cuts are doubtless to pale as compared to layoffs anticipated if Paramount takes possession of CNN as part of its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.
Paramount agreed final month to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery in a deal valued at about $31 per share, or roughly $110 billion, keeping off a rival bid from Netflix, which had beforehand struck an settlement to buy the company’s studios and streaming belongings earlier than strolling away.
Paramount’s deal for Warner Bros. Discovery, which continues to be subject to authorities approval, comes months after the company merged with Skydance Media in August 2025 underneath CEO David Ellison.
Under Ellison, Paramount’s CBS News division has already undergone sweeping layoffs as part of a broader restructuring — cuts that would foreshadow related strikes at CNN if the deal is accredited.
CBS News earlier this month cut about 6% of its workforce — roughly 60 to 70 employees — as part of a sweeping restructuring underneath new management.
The community is present process cuts as it shifts away from its conventional cable model. Getty Images
The layoffs have been outlined in a memo from editor in chief Bari Weiss and president Tom Cibrowski, who stated components of the newsroom should shrink to fund digital and audience-growth initiatives.
The community additionally shuttered its almost century-old CBS News Radio division, eliminating all jobs within the unit and ending service to roughly 700 affiliate stations efficient May 22.
Once Paramount takes control of CNN, David Ellison is anticipated to mix it with CBS News — a transfer doubtless to spark sweeping job cuts as duplicative roles are eradicated, in accordance to Status.
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison is poised to take control of CNN underneath Paramount’s proposed deal. AFP by way of Getty Images
CNN doesn’t escape its financials, however proxy filings show the community is projected to generate roughly $1.8 billion in income this yr, with its core business anticipated to decline.
“The day of reckoning is coming, and they’re going to have to cut costs,” Derek Reisfield, a former CBS government, informed The Post.
“You are going to see dramatic changes in the industry continue.”
Reisfield added that any mixture of CNN and CBS News would doubtless contain consolidating overlapping operations, saying “you can combine a number of functions and save a lot of money.”
The Post has sought remark from CNN.
