Misery at CNN HQ as debt-plagued network prepares for sale and Anderson Cooper hires new agent

Daily Mail​

18-06-2025

A dark cloud hangs over CNN headquarters as staffers brace for layoffs and a likely sale of the network amid another reshuffling by its parents company.
'I'd say the mood remains really grim,' a CNN employee told Fox News, in the wake of last week's restructuring announcement from Warner Bros. Discovery.
'People are uncertain.'
Meanwhile, CNN mainstay Anderson Cooper just signed with a new talent agency for the first time in decades - a move Variety reported was is a surefire sign he is open to new opportunities.
The staffer who spoke to FOX News revealed workers were already aware of WBD's plans to split into two separate companies before last week, with one centered around studios and streaming.
The other, tentatively titled Global Networks, will revolve around linear TV assets like CNN.
'We knew this was happening. And it was required to be able to sell the company,' the staffer said of the split.
'People are hoping CNN will be sold,' the source continued, saying Global Networks' new chief executive, WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels, warned 'there is no limit, any sale can be made at any time - to a buyer who will invest in it. That's the bottom line.'
The staffer added: 'I think they've telegraphed clearly that more cuts are coming. '
The insider noted that Wiedenfels' 'remit is not to grow stuff.'
'This company is a cash-flow giant with shrinking revenue. Like that's the deal,' the source said. 'It's merely a matter of how fast it shrinks. That's why the assets were split.'
Wiedenfels has already managed to reduce WBD's $55billion debt by $21 billion in less than two years.
His appointment by WBC CEO David Zaslav comes after several rounds of layoffs at his behest.
Less than five months ago, CNN laid off 200 staffers - all from its struggling TV division. WBD has engaged in repeated rounds as well.
A staffer told the Daily Mail at the time of the most recent CNN firings that the network had become 'bloated' after Warner Bros.' merger with Discovery in 2021.
The cost-cutting seen since has done little to help the conglomerate's share price, which is down some 7 percent year to date.
'And we don't have streaming yet so - it's hard to imagine it doesn't get worse,' the CNN source further told Fox, referring to an anticipated portion of CNN CEO Mark Thompson's long-in-the works restructuring plan.
'If we do not follow the audiences to the new platforms with real conviction and scale, our future prospects will not be good,' Thompson told the New York Times in January.
The new streaming service set to roll out this fall, he said, would feature the network's most well-known stars.
This week, reports emerged that CNN superstar Cooper is now being represented by Creative Artists Agency (CAA) after years with United Talent Agency (UTA).
He will be represented by Hollywood super-agent and CAA CEO Bryan Lourd.
Cooper, 58, has been with CNN since 2001 and collects an annual salary of $18million, Puck reported this week, adding that such salaries would soon be a thing of the past.
The report pointed out how Wiedenfels seems poised to commence cost-cutting, after working as Discovery's and then WBD's CFO since 2017.
Much of the frustration from staff has been aimed at Zaslav, a second CNN staffer told Fox News, after two years of sagging ratings, streamlining roles, and repeated promises to pivot to streaming.
'Zaslav killed this place. He killed it,' the source said.
'The last few years under Zas has been a disaster in terms of what he has done,' the person added.
Prior to announcing the restructuring last week, Zaslav reportedly dismissed a split of WBD's assets - including cable stations like TNT and TBS - as a bad idea.
Sources told Puck at the time that ideas to better monetize the network by Thompson were either out of date or are coming too late - forcing execs' hands.
A third staffer who spoke to Fox also appeared to believe a collapse at CNN is imminent.
'I'm trying to figure out what I'll do next when the whole thing collapses, but I don't even know when that will be,' the source said.