Jeff Zucker to Stay on at CNN till End of 2021

The employees at CNN are concerned about Jeff Zucker, active president of CNN. They wonder if the president is going to stick to CNN after the presidential inauguration. 

According to associates at ANN, Zucker had almost exited. No one was assuming if he is going to stay. But finally, he decided otherwise. He cleared the suspense on Thursday and announced that he is going to stick with CNN at list till the end of the year. He said that he will remain with WarnerMedia, CNN’s parent company, till the end of 2021. 

Zucker announced his decision of staying back for another year on the CNN’s daily editorial call. Zucker confessed that he was has almost decided to move on and exit the company. In November and December, Zucker has prepared his mind to finally leave. But now he changed his decision. 

Zucker said that he wanted to stay. Though the stay will not be forever. But he decided to stick around for another year. And in Zucker’s words, he feels quite good about this change of heart.

At the moment, Zucker oversees the sports division of WarnerMedia, CNN’s parent company as the chairman. He also presides the CNN departments. 

At CNN, Zucker is seen as the driving force behind the stability of the company. It is expected that his decision of sticking to CNN and WarnerMedia for another year had consequences not only on the internal politics of the company but otherwise as well. CNN being one of the biggest news providers in the world, is likely to be impacted by that decision. 

Zucker has previously worked at NBC. He took over at CNN in 2013. At that time CNN was facing identity crisis. CNN was not having the desired recognition as the Fox media and MSNBC were the leading and popular media houses in that time. 

With the arrival of Zucker, CNN gains some stability. It would not be wrong to say that Zucker entered the company with a producer’s brain. He has the nose to smell news and the eyes to recognize talents. His managerial skills are quite evident. No wonder, CNN gained a lot from him. 

The popularity also arose during the Trump administration with the slogan “Facts first”. They challenged the administration’s mendacity. This helped them get fame and trust of many viewers, not to mention, even the Trump fans. 

The CNN and its parent company WarnerMedia were acquired by At&T(T) in 2018. With this, many of the Zucker’s counterparts in CNN and WarnerMedia heading other divisions were either replaced or asked to leave. Some sources claimed that there was occasional friction between Zucker and AT&T. But it is also quite evident that the wireless giant had had defended the CNN’s autonomy especially from Trump’s attacks. 

Last year AT&T appointed Jason Kilar to lead the WarnerMedia. After that, it was expected that Zucker will surely leave after the presidential elections. Though it is known that his contract continues throughout 2021. 

Last year, these stories were highlighted, many were left speculating, even CNN was in suspense. Zucker has become a critical element of the CNN’s DNA. He spent almost 7 years there. But with a large company like CNN, having around 4,000 employees, even Zucker faced criticism. Zucker was a strong leader who had taken forward the company. 

Ted Turner is the founder of CNN. And Zucker has become the person who have sailed the company to this height. In an interview, Kilar acknowledges both of them. 

As per the associate, Zucker who was all set to leave has now decided to stay back with CNN till his contract gets over. The only reason behind this is that Zucker loves his work.