CNN was once the king of the television media empire.
But after numerous leadership changes, dwindling ratings, and plummeting profits, the once lofty news network has been forced to embark on a series of major changes in hopes of turning things around and competing with the likes of Fox News.
Now in a new act of desperation to save the network’s profit sheet, CNN brass is targeting some of it’s top anchors and on-screen talent.
But the move could signal the end of the network — or a mass exodus from it’s more revered pool of talent.
According to a bombshell New York Post report, CNN mainstays Jake Tapper and Wolf Blitzer have been denied salary raises while Chris Wallace will likely be forced to take a pay cut.
NEW: Inside CNN CEO Mark Thompson's massive overhaul, where Chris Wallace is being offered a pay cut, and Jake Tapper and Wolf Blitzer were renewed without raises. "Flat is the new up," one top agent tells me.
My first yarn for @TheAnkler —https://t.co/cfUYthlcWm
— Lachlan Cartwright (@LachCartwright) October 16, 2024
This is happening amid reporters that many at the network brace for “inevitable” layoffs, according to the report.
Mark Thompson — the former BBC and New York Times boss who was brought in to overhaul CNN by Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav — has told some of his highest paid and most recognizable stars to “take it or leave it,” according to a report.
Thompson recently re-signed Tapper, CNN’s chief Washington correspondent who anchors “The Lead,” to a new three-year contract that will pay him the same $7 million annually that he had earned under the terms of his previous deal, according to a report from The Ankler newsletter.
According to the report, Blitzer, the 76-year-old longtime CNN veteran who anchors “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer,” has also been re-signed to a new three-year contract that will freeze his pay at roughly $3 million annually — the same sum of money he had been making before.
As for Wallace, speculation of his place at the network is sure to circulate as former Fox News personality was reportedly told that he will have to accept a salary that is significantly less than the $8.5 million that he is earning under his current deal.
Wallace, who was brought on board by former CNN President Jeff Zucker shortly before the executive was forced to resign over a years-long relationship with a subordinate.
According to the report, CNN staffers are bracing for a “bloodbath” — or another round of layoffs on top of the hundreds of jobs that have already been cut by Thompson as he continues an overhaul of the network.
“If you are not getting an offer several months out, you are in a precarious place,” a CNN staffer told The Ankler. “That anxiety has trickled down and out and across the place.”
Thompson is reportedly preparing to either slash pay for the dozens of the network’s national correspondents — who are said to earn salaries that are in the mid-to-high six figures — or eliminate their positions entirely, according to the report.
“Mark has made it known he doesn’t like the conventional style of TV packages we are doing,” one staffer said.
“He wants people who are edgy. He doesn’t want people who look like your traditional anchorman, and it turns out those [edgy] people are cheaper.”
Thompson is slashing costs due to declining revenues at the network and waning viewership.
According to the report, some on-air correspondents may be asked to do things that are beyond their current job descriptions.
Reporters may soon be asked to write their own scripts and produce their own segments as well as record footage vertically for TikTok videos
CNN’s web site currently lists 92 people as on-air “reporters and correspondents.”