CNN President Jeff Zucker says he has no plans to leave the company and jump to ESPN.
“I am staying at CNN,” Zucker said during a company town hall on Thursday, adding that he has “no conversations with anyone at Disney, and have no intention of doing so.”
Zucker’s remarks leaked during the meeting, with CNN reporters tweeting them in real time.
Zucker says he's had "no conversations with anyone at Disney, and have no intention of doing so."
— Tom Kludt (@TomKludt) January 25, 2018
Zucker’s comments to employees follow a previous statement issued by the network which stated that he would remain at CNN.
“Jeff loves his job at CNN and has no interest in running ESPN,” the company repeated on Thursday.
Earlier this week, there were reports that Zucker has been in under consideration by the Mouse House for ESPN’s top job. Media watchers will recall that ESPN has been without a permanent leader since the sudden resignation of John Skipper last month.
Zucker has led CNN since 2012 and has overseen a turbulent period of growth for the network that has largely coincided with the rise of Donald Trump. While Zucker and Trump were once friends, the president has routinely attacked Zucker and CNN by name, accusing the channel of spreading “fake news.”