Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has revamped the company's leadership and strategy to take on a challenged industry, most recently appointing ex-New York Times CEO Mark Thompson to lead CNN.
Thompson follows Chris Licht, whose brief tenure was marked by a series of crises, plunging ratings, and a demoralized newsroom. Thompson faces steep challenges in turning around a business that, like the rest of cable news, is in decline. WBD has said CNN is not for sale, and Zaslav wrote in a memo to staff that Thompson "is exactly the leader we need to take the helm of CNN at this pivotal time."
The new CNN chief faces steep challenges in turning around a business that, like the rest of cable news, is in decline. WBD has said CNN is not for sale, and Zaslav wrote in a memo to staff that Thompson "is exactly the leader we need to take the helm of CNN at this pivotal time."
Eighteen months after the merger that created the media giant, Zaslav is focused on churning out cash to pay down WBD's massive debt load, but he has a tough road. The advertising market still in the doldrums; the Hollywood writers' strike has drawn to a close, but actors remain on strike, stifling production, and WBD has said the stoppages would cost it as much as $500 million this year. Questions are still swirling across Hollywood about streaming's profit potential.
A lot is riding on the success of streaming service Max, which rolled out to consumers May 23, offering content from HBO Max and Discovery+. The service added a CNN streaming hub in September and plans to add a live sports offering in October. The goal is to win new subscribers (and retain HBO and HBO Max subscribers) with Max's broad array of high-quality, well-known content that offers something for everyone in the family.
Other priorities include generating revenue by selling more TV shows to other platforms, expanding film output in a time of frugality, and renewing sports rights with the NBA in an increasingly competitive and expensive market for sports programming.
Many of the execs Zaslav's assembled to help him carry out these tasks are former colleagues from his Discovery days, particularly his top strategic lieutenants, JB Perrette, Gunnar Wiedenfels, and Bruce Campbell. Chief People Officer Adria Alpert Romm goes even farther back with Zaslav, having worked alongside him at NBCUniversal (reporting jointly to Alpert Romm and Zaslav is Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer Asif Sadiq, who joined WarnerMedia shortly before its merger with Discovery was announced).
While Kathleen Finch joined the mix with her portfolio of Discovery channels, top TV execs from the WarnerMedia regime — HBO and Max's Casey Bloys and Warner Bros. TV studios chief Channing Dungey — are still in place. (Many of Bloys' team are longtime HBO execs, including Meredith Gertler, who reports jointly to him and Perrette.) The company's film studios, however, have four new leaders: Pam Abdy and Mike De Luca at Warner Bros. Pictures, and James Gunn and Peter Safran at DC Studios, whose tentpole films are key to Zaslav's box office strategy.
Insider mapped out the 105 top execs under Zaslav working to build WBD into a challenger for Netflix and Disney — here are the leaders he's relying on to execute the company's transformation.
This story and chart were originally published in April and have been updated. Claire Atkinson contributed to an earlier version.
