CNN president Jeff Zucker resigned today — just months before the oldest 24-hour news network is set to launch its huge bet on streaming, Hope writes.

Why it matters: Zucker had been expected to stay at least until CNN parent WarnerMedia merged with Discovery.

• He had been a driving force behind CNN+, the network’s renewed push into streaming. 

Catch up quick: After nine years at the helm of CNN, Zucker is out effective immediately after failing to properly disclose a consensual relationship with a longtime senior colleague, Axios’ Sara Fischer reports.

• The company did not respond to a request for comment.

The big picture: Zucker's departure adds to the huge shifts in the media industry as companies try to find their way in a post-Trump, post-COVID and TikTok-driven world.

State of play: Broadcast and cable networks including CBS, Fox, NBC and MSNBC have all made major leadership, programming and product changes over the past year. 

• This comes as audience engagement has changed dramatically since the Trump administration and COVID dominated news cycles. 

By the numbers: Cable news ratings have been down 36% across prime-time Fox News, CNN and MSNBC, while news app downloads and social media engagement with news have fallen by 33% and 65%, respectively, Axios recently reported. 

What they’re saying: “What we’re building at CNN+ is not a side hustle,” CNN chief digital officer Andrew Morse told the New York Times just last week.

What to watch: WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar announced three executives — Michael Bass, head of U.S. programming; Amy Entelis, head of talent and content development; and Ken Jautz, a longtime exec at the company — to co-lead the network in the interim.

(Disclosure: Hope is a former CNN employee.)

The Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine-or-test mandate is history, but about half of U.S. employers are proceeding with one anyway, Nathan writes.

By the numbers: Nearly a quarter of employers are already requiring vaccinations without a testing option despite the Supreme Court scrapping the Biden mandate, according to the Jan. 27 poll by human resources consultancy Mercer.

• 13% are requiring vaccines or regular testing.
• Another 8% are requiring vaccines due to federal or state rules that remain in place, while 6% have plans to implement a mandate.

Yes, but: 42% of employers have no plans for a mandate.

💽 Spotify shares fell more than 15% after hours following the company's warning that it would add fewer new subscribers than expected this quarter. (MarketWatch)

🐋 SeaWorld made an unsolicited offer to buy Ohio-based theme park company Cedar Fair at a reported $3.4 billion valuation. (Axios)

Pfizer is the fourth most-admired company in the world on Fortune magazine’s annual list, marking its best-ever performance and its first time since 2006 in the top 50, Nathan writes.

• It was more admired than Disney, Starbucks and Netflix, trailing only Apple, Amazon and Microsoft.

Why it matters: Pfizer has gone from villain to hero in the eyes of many, its image undergoing a rapid transformation as the company draws credit for jointly developing a lifesaving COVID-19 vaccine.

• “The ability to get a vaccine out to the public in record time really gave the pharmaceutical industry a way to rehabilitate a very poor reputation,” says NYC Health Business Leaders CEO Bunny Ellerin.

Yes, but: The poll reflects the opinions of 3,740 executives, directors and securities analysts — not the general public, which still has significant reservations about the drug business.

Go deeper.

Tom Cruise is set to be the first Hollywood A-lister to help shoot a movie in space.

• In preparation, Hope writes, the star has been leaning on astronauts like NASA's Victor Glover.

What they talked about: Health in space was a big part of the conversation that NASA posted to YouTube late last week, Space.com reports today.

• The two also talked about what it smells like in the International Space Station, where Cruise will stay.

It smells like a hospital, if you're wondering.

"The momentum is with us, the energy is with us, the workers are excited."