CNN announced Thursday morning that the network will be cutting about 200 staffers, roughly 6% of jobs, as they pivot towards digital post-election. This restructuring will also include a new streaming service, as well as changes to its linear lineup.
Still, despite these layoffs, CEO Mark Thompson noted they are also expected to fill 100 new jobs in the first half of 2025. Those roles come in part from a $70 million investment from Warner Bros. Discovery, according to The New York Times.
“The changes we’re announcing today are part of an ongoing response by this great news organization to profound and irreversible shifts in the way audiences in America and around the world consume news,” Thompson shared in a memo.
“It’s early days, but we’ve already established that there’s immense demand for it not just in America but across much of the world,” he added of the impending streaming service, which will “develop a new way for digital subscribers at home and abroad to stream news programming from us on any device they choose.”
Other notable changes include Jim Acosta’s daytime show being replaced by “The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown,” as well as a new morning show led by Audie Cornish.
While CNN is expected to remain present on Max, this new streamer will be similar to its TV offerings. Another subscription-based model will be set around lifestyle content, such as food and fitness.
“This is a moment where the digital story feels like an existential question. 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 NYT. “In the end, this is about CNN being — as it has been in its history — an indispensable way in which many, many millions of people get their news.”
TheWrap has reached out to CNN for further comment.
