CNN chief Chris Licht is out at the news network, parent company Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) announced on Wednesday.
Licht will be replaced by an interim leadership team comprising Amy Entelis, EVP of talent and content development, Virginia Moseley, EVP of editorial, and Eric Sherling, EVP of US programming. David Leavy, chief operating officer on the commercial side, will also lead in the interim, the company said.
"I have great respect for Chris, personally and professionally," David Zaslav, president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, said in a news release.
"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. While we know we have work to do as we look to identify a new leader, we have absolute confidence in the team we have in place and will continue to fight for CNN and its world class journalism," he added.
Licht previously served as the executive producer of Stephen Colbert's late night show before taking over as chairman and CEO of CNN in May 2022. He replaced longtime network president Jeff Zucker, who resigned from his position after failing to disclose a consensual romantic relationship with a colleague.
Licht has had a tumultuous time at the network, which has included mass layoffs, a failed foray into streaming with CNN+, and historically low ratings.
According to Nielsen, CNN's ratings for May were down 25% compared with the year-ago period — despite a high-profile town hall with former president Donald Trump. Just two days after the town hall, the network's primetime viewership numbers fell, dropping it to fourth place below right-wing media outlet Newsmax, a much smaller network.
To compare, MSNBC saw ratings increase 14% in May year-over-year, while Fox News dropped 37% over that same time period.
Most recently, a scathing profile in The Atlantic documented his missteps. Licht apologized to employees Monday morning, saying, "I should not be in the news."
Warner Bros. Discovery stock is up about 25% year-to-date. Shares were little changed immediately following the release of the Licht news, but have since climbed more than 5% in afternoon trading.
Despite the slowdown in network news amid greater declines in linear TV viewership, Needham analyst Laura Martin said CNN is still a prime entity for Warner Bros. Discovery.
"The only way to win the streaming wars is you must have entertainment content, you must have news, and you must have live sports. Why? Because the way you drive viewership is when something breaks in the world for news, it drives people to your app, and then you have the option to keep them there with your entertainment content," she explained.
Zaslav has consistently reiterated his commitment to CNN, telling investors during WBD's most recent earnings call in May he anticipates "real growth" out of the network as the political cycle kicks off.
He reiterated those comments at a MoffettNathanson conference later that month, saying, "CNN should be the place that people come for the best version of the truth and for journalism. And that's what we're building."
"It's going to take some time, but advertisers are interested in CNN again," he continued.
Alexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com
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