CNN boss lays out plans for digital future, layoffs to come
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CNN CEO Mark Thompson. Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Warner Bros. Discovery
CNN CEO Mark Thompson told staffers in a detailed memo Wednesday that he plans to restructure the outlets' newsgathering operations to take advantage of its global footprint and become more digitally focused.
Why it matters: It's part of a broader set of efforts led by Thompson to help modernize CNN's business for the digital era. As part of the changes, roughly 100 people out of CNN's 3,500-person global workforce will be laid off.
State of play: The strategy behind the moves is meant to capitalize on CNN's global footprint "in a way few other global news competitors can compete with," Thompson noted.
- Virginia Moseley, a longtime CNN news executive, will lead the unified newsgathering operation across the U.S., international and digital.
- She will oversee the story management model "Follow the Sun" designed to ensure global newsgathering teams hand off stories across CNN bureaus.
Zoom out: Several of the company's global news hubs will be expanded as part of the new model.
- CNN in Hong Kong will be leveraged more to power U.S. newsgathering and programming overnights in the U.S. CNN will also lean into its operations in London and Los Angeles.
- New story managers will see people managing stories vertically from start to finish. Digital video journalists will be embedded more closely with newsgathering teams. The company's fact-checking unit will be more closely embedded within CNN's news division.
Zoom in: In addition to modernizing CNN's newsgathering process, Thompson also announced new efforts to digitize CNN's TV offering through the creation of a new "TV Futures Lab," which will develop and manage streaming and on-demand programming for its parent company's streaming service, Max.
- The Lab will also investigate ways to help migrate CNN's linear news experience to other digital platforms.
- CNN plans to launch two more free, ad-supported streaming channels for CNN Originals and CNN Espanol, in addition to the free, ad-supported channels it already powers for CNN and CNN International.
What's next: As part of CNN's broader shift to digital, Thompson said he plans to launch the company's first new digital subscription product before the end of the year.
- Those paid offerings, he noted, will be anchored by lifestyle journalism topics "where CNN is uniquely positioned to win."
- Last month, Thompson told Axios that of the roughly 170 million digital CNN monthly users, there are around 17 million–20 million who are "really engaged," and could be ripe for a subscription offering.
The big picture: Thompson joined CNN last October following a chaotic period for the network. He's tasked with trying to rebuild CNN's business for the digital future in a fiscally responsible way.
- CNN's old management team under its former owners was working to build a subscription video product called CNN+, but the app was shuttered shortly after launch due to skepticism over costs by its new owners, Warner Bros. Discovery.
- "We are building a billion dollar+ digital business of the future," Thompson said.
Go deeper: CNN CEO teases subscription product by year's end
Note: The author of this article is an on-air contributor for CNN.
