Jeffrey A. Zucker, the CNN president who overhauled America’s cable network and media in the past decade, said during a morning call with members of the CNN team on Thursday that he planned to step down at the end of the year, when your contract is up.
“I can’t imagine not being here now,” said Zucker, 55, according to a CNN employee who was on the call. “I will stay and finish my current contract, which, as I said, will keep me here until the end of this year. At this point, I hope to move on. “
His decision ends months of speculation about his impending departure, but raises questions about CNN’s future. The network prospered under former President Donald J. Trump. He went from providing an unfiltered platform for his rallies when he was a candidate in 2015 to dedicating his prime time to anti-Trump voices for much of his presidency.
Zucker is stepping off the top of a ranking game that has been his obsession throughout his career, but his departure comes amid questions about how CNN’s parent company, AT&T, will run the cable news channel at a time when that Americans increasingly don’t want to pay for cable and streaming services are still unprofitable.
Known as a micromanager, Zucker had tensions with Jason Kilar, the newly appointed chief executive of WarnerMedia, the news and entertainment arm of AT&T. Last year, Kilar stripped Zucker of several responsibilities, including overseeing human resources and public relations teams.
Mr. Zucker has generated intense loyalty among his team. “He’s the best boss I’ve ever had, and he doesn’t even come close,” said CNN anchor Jake Tapper. “I am grateful that we have him for another year.”
Friends said Zucker had been in a good mood for the past few weeks, enjoying Kilar’s public praise for him and spurred on by CNN’s high ratings, which broke a record 40 years for the network in November and beat the competition during the Capitol uprising.
Zucker took over CNN in 2013, after a career that included a turn as an executive producer on NBC’s “Today” program when he was 20 years old. He left NBC News in 2000, becoming president of NBC Entertainment – a job that put him in regular contact with Trump, then the star of the reality show “The Apprentice”.
His rise continued, taking him to chief executive of NBCUniversal. In 2010, he oversaw a disaster: the replacement of Jay Leno, the highest rated host of “The Tonight Show”, by Conan O’Brien. O’Brien did not last a year in office and the chain ended up returning his franchise at dawn to Leno. The blunder contributed to Mr. Zucker losing his job on the only network he had ever met.
On CNN, he left his mark on every element of the station’s programming and was a frequent voice in the ears of anchors, suggesting questions to guests.
CNN faces new challenges in trying to navigate the shift toward programming that does not come through cable television, but directly to consumers through smartphones or devices like Roku and Chromecast.
It will also have to redo itself for news cycles without the constant presence of Trump’s opponents, who often denigrated the network as “fake news”. The former president clashed publicly with CNN correspondent at the White House, Jim Acosta, calling him “a rude and terrible person” and preventing him from entering the White House in 2018. The network won a lawsuit against Trump and members of his administration, and Acosta’s press credentials at the White House have been restored.