Embattled CNN CEO Chris Licht Gets The Boot

CNN Chairman and Chief Executive Chris Licht has stepped down from the media company, effective immediately, parent company Warner Bros. Discovery said, Helen Coster reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: The move comes less than a week after the Atlantic magazine published a critical report about Licht.

The company said that as it seeks Licht's replacement, it has put in place an interim leadership team including Amy Entelis, EVP of talent and content development, Virginia Moseley, EVP of editorial, and Eric Sherling, EVP of US programming, as well as David Leavy, chief operating officer, on the commercial side.

The move comes less than a week after the Atlantic magazine published a critical report about Licht.

In an email to staff Wednesday, Warner Bros. Discovery President and Chief Executive David Zaslav wrote that the company will be conducting a wide search, internally and externally, for a new leader.

“This job was never going to be easy, especially at a time of great disruption and transformation, and Chris poured his heart and soul into it," Zaslav wrote. "Unfortunately, things did not work out the way we had hoped – and ultimately that’s on me.”

Licht, who most recently served as EVP of special programming at CBS and executive producer and showrunner for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” assumed his role in May 2022, replacing Jeff Zucker, who was forced to resign after failing to disclose a consensual relationship with a colleague.

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