Jeff Zucker told employees on Thursday that he will remain in his post overseeing CNN, ending speculation for now that he will exit, the network’s Brian Stelter reported.
“The truth is, back in November and December I had basically decided that it was time to move on now,” Zucker said on a daily editorial call. “But since then I’ve had a change of heart. And I want to stay. Not forever, but for another year. And I feel really good about this decision.”
Although there had been a lot of speculation that Zucker would exit after the election, in recent weeks employees have predicted that Zucker would stay, as ratings for the network have improved, particularly since the election. In January, the network beat rivals MSNBC and Fox News in primetime and total day viewers, but it remains to be seen how viewership will settle now that Donald Trump is out of office.
A CNN spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.
Zucker became head of CNN in 2013, and in 2019, after the merger of Time Warner with AT&T, he took on the new title of chairman of WarnerMedia News & Sports and President of CNN.
More to come.
