2023-06-25 14:38:03
by Massimo Gaggi
Zucker ready to regain control after the collapse of the ratings and the ouster of his successor, Chris Licht. Discovery, owner of CNN, would like to sell the information network
CNN, in the storm after a year of collapse in ratings and the ouster of Chris Licht who was supposed to lead the progressive network towards more centrist positions, could return to the hands of its old boss, Jeff Zucker who, since he was ousted, at the beginning of 2022, he has never stopped meditating revenge.
The battle for control of CNN for intrigues make it look like episodes of Succession at times. And, as in every television saga, here too the conclusion is uncertain: there will be numerous bets to get there. For now, in fact, the current owner, WarnerBros-Discovery, is not talking about selling this network, while other suitors are sprouting up behind the consortium set up by Zucker: above all John Catsimatidis, Republican billionaire, king of New York supermarkets (his the Gristedes and D’Agostino chains) who recently discovered himself as a media entrepreneur with the Wabc radio and a major investment in The Messenger website. Now he says he wants to buy CNN, asks for only a dollar salary and, accustomed to dealing with business rather brusquely, accuses his competitor, Zucker, of having thrown CNN into a sewer.
What’s going on in the world’s most famous television news network? Having joined just over a year ago, the new owners of Discovery, with no experience in political information management and by now aware that CNN does not make significant contributions to the development of their main business, entertainment, could decide to sell it . Indeed, the merger between WarnerBros and Discovery left the group with a debt of 50 billion dollars: collecting 5 from the sale of Cnn would be much more than a breath of fresh air. It would not affect the heart of the group’s business, entertainment (with the Hbo Max channels, the Discovery Channel and Warner film productions).
Discovery’s CNN information is non-essential and few profits (profits dropped in the last year from 1.25 to 0.75 billion dollars). The head of the group, David Zaslav, does not confirm that he is thinking of a sale but acknowledges that the debt weighs heavily, also because the times of production galore and compulsive television consumption by the public are over. Here then enters the man who for almost ten years was the undisputed head of CNN, in fact America’s most important television manager, suddenly fired at dawn of 2022.
Two months ago, called by Yale University to give a lesson in media leadership to business school students, Zucker told of having been the victim of an ambush: the old property, ready to sell the network to a group determined to marry it at centre, had to get rid of its cumbersome presence. He had long been in a romantic relationship with Allison Gollust, another manager of the network, his current partner. When the thing became public knowledge for Zucker’s own admission, the company fired him because, according to internal rules, he should have informed the board of directors from the beginning of his relationship with an employee: I handed over to them a loaded gun and they shot me told Zucker students that evidently he never gave up on the abrupt end of his golden age. And that he never stopped thinking about a rematch.
Licht did not last long at CNN due to his mistakes but also because Zucker, who remained popular in his old editorial staff and with strong ties to the progressive press, worked hard to bring down the ground from under his successor’s feet. Now Zucker, who in the meantime has created a new investment company in the world of information together with the Red Bird Capital of billionaire Jerry Cardinale (the owner of AC Milan) and oil capital from the Emirates (those of Internationa Media Investments of Abu Dhabi), is would be preparing to launch an offer. For now, these are just hypotheses. It is not certain that Discovery is determined to sell and accept Cnn’s return to left-wing positions given that Licht’s conversion to the center had been strongly supported by billionaire John Malone, a large shareholder and director of Discovery. The group could even expand into the world of information, especially if there is a merger between Paramount and Comcast which would force the latter to sell CBS News for antitrust reasons.
The financial numbers say that the centrist CNN is not working (it has lost a quarter of its audience in the last year), but we are heading towards a fiery presidential election, even a political one. This could slow down the sale or cause it to be postponed to next spring. But, as mentioned, Discovery begins to have serious financial problems while, if the offer is not accepted, Zucker, with his partners, could try to buy Cbs News and consume his revenge on him.
June 25, 2023 (change June 25, 2023 | 14:37)
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