Chris Licht has been selected to be the CNN president following the resignation of the network’s former President Jeff Zucker, CNN’s Brian Stelter confirmed Saturday.
WarnerMedia, the corporation that owns CNN, is planning to partner with Discovery CEO David Zaslav to run the newly formed Warner Bros. Discovery by April, CNN reported. Zaslav has been deliberating candidates to replace Zucker once the two companies merge.
The network is expected to make the announcement of Licht’s promotion next week, according to Puck News, which first reported Licht’s new upcoming position.
Licht is currently the executive producer of the CBS program “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and executive vice president of special programming at ViacomCBS, CNN reported. He has over two decades of experience in the television industry, particularly political news.
His contract with CBS is set to end in April, according to CNN.
Big news about CNN: @ChrisLicht has been selected to run the news network once Discovery and WarnerMedia merge. Announcement coming next week. Here’s my full story for @CNNBusiness https://t.co/1TB6S3jLZb
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 26, 2022
Zucker announced his resignation in a Feb. 2 letter to employees over an undisclosed relationship with CNN chief marketing officer Allison Gollust, who served as the communications director for former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The network’s former president was asked about the relationship during CNN’s investigation of former anchor Chris Cuomo for assisting his brother in covering up the several sexual assault allegations brought against him in 2021.
CNN fired Cuomo in December after reviewing transcripts that revealed the “Cuomo Prime Time” host’s, along with former aide Melissa DeRosa, involvement in acquiring information on the accusers. (RELATED: REPORT: Chris Cuomo Took Down Jeff Zucker Amid Bitter Battle Over His Firing)
Gollust resigned from the network two weeks after Zucker due to the reports surrounding their affair.
Following the resignation, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar put three interim co-heads Micheal Bass, Amy Entelis and Ken Jautz in charge.
Licht formerly worked at the local Los Angeles outlet KNBC during the 1995 trial of O.J. Simpson, CNN reported. In 2005, he joined MSNBC to work as the executive producer for “Scarborough City.” He then switched to CBS and created “CBS This Morning.” Licht has worked with Colbert since 2016.
