CNN’s lavish employee perks are getting the boot as the network tightens its belt. Starting July 1, staff must submit receipts with expense reports, as the Daily Mail reports, a move that has pampered correspondents clutching their pearls. This crackdown signals a broader push to rein in costs at a network teetering on the edge of a sale.
Effective July 1, CNN will enforce receipt submissions for expense reports, end a free-spending era, and brace for potential salary reductions amid rumors of a possible sale to new ownership under Global Networks, a spin-off from Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) that includes fading cable channels such as HGTV and TBS.
Employees are rattled, with over half a dozen reporting sky-high anxiety. “Everyone is wary and tired,” one prominent journalist moaned, as if change itself were the enemy. But in a cutthroat media landscape, clinging to cushy benefits while ratings stagnate is a recipe for irrelevance.
WBD’s CFO, Gunnar Wiedenfels, will helm Global Networks as CEO, overseeing CNN’s integration with other cable relics. His memo, titled “Excitement for the Future,” promised editorial independence and a $100 million streaming investment. Sounds bold, but rehiring flops from the CNN+ disaster hardly inspires confidence.
“Excitement for the Future” might be Wiedenfels’ spin, but staff aren’t buying it. “The rank and file are nervous,” one employee griped, citing “no confidence” in leadership. When your CFO’s pep talk lands like a lead balloon, it’s clear the rank-and-file smell trouble.
CNN’s high rollers, like Anderson Cooper and Jake Tapper, face salary cuts as competitors match their ratings for less. Million-dollar anchors soaking up cash while others do the same job cheaper? That’s a business model begging for a reality check.
Correspondents pulling six figures for rare on-air cameos are also in the crosshairs. Why pay top dollar for faces viewers barely see? CNN’s finally waking up to the fact that bloated payrolls don’t guarantee relevance.
“There are people who think CNN won’t exist,” a staffer whispered, voicing fears of the network’s demise. It’s a grim outlook, but when your business model leans on overpaid talking heads, extinction isn’t a stretch. The market doesn’t care about your feelings.
WBD, meanwhile, has slashed its debt from $55 billion to $34 billion, a rare win for fiscal sanity. Yet, nearly 60% of shareholders rejected Wiedenfels’ and CEO David Zaslav’s compensation packages. When your own investors balk, it’s time to rethink the C-suite’s golden parachutes.
Zaslav’s pay jumped nearly 5% from 2023 to 2024, even as WBD’s share price dipped 7% year-to-date. A 1% stock bump after the spin-off news Friday morning barely masks the pain. Rewarding executives while squeezing staff reeks of tone-deaf leadership.
Warner Bros. Pictures, HBO, and Max will stay with WBD, while CNN joins the cable channel graveyard at Global Networks. This split aims to streamline WBD’s portfolio, but dumping declining assets into a new entity feels like kicking the can down the road. Good luck selling that vision.
Wiedenfels’ memo vowed CNN’s editorial independence, a nod to fears of corporate meddling. But with $100 million sunk into streaming -- partly to rehire CNN+ veterans -- the network’s betting on a digital future that already flopped once. Throwing cash at failed ideas isn’t a strategy; it’s desperation.
Staff morale is in the gutter, with one employee calling the vibe “pre-cuts time.” No trust, no confidence, just a sinking feeling that CNN’s glory days are gone. When your people doubt the ship’s course, it’s hard to argue they’re wrong.
The Daily Mail reached out to CNN for comment, but don’t hold your breath for a straight answer. Networks facing existential crises rarely spill the tea. They’d rather spin “excitement” than admit the house is on fire.
CNN’s cost-cutting, from receipt checks to salary trims, exposes a network out of touch with reality. High-paid anchors and ghost correspondents can’t hide from the market’s wrath forever. If CNN wants to survive, it better ditch the woke excesses and get lean -- fast.
