Ex-CNN boss Jeff Zucker's team angrily denies report he's been trying to buy network: 'Aggressively false'
Zucker has been long rumored to want to purchase CNN
Former CNN boss Jeff Zucker absolutely, positively doesn’t want to purchase the network he once ruled, he claims.
Zucker, who was forced out of CNN last year ahead of a long-planned merger that put the network under the control of Warner Bros. Discovery, has been long rumored to want to purchase CNN in order to regain control of the struggling network. Zucker is even sitting on a $1 billion pile of cash intended to be spent on media assets on behalf of RedBird IMI, an investment group that he currently oversees.
But Zucker doesn’t want to buy CNN, according to his spokesperson.
Zucker’s spokeswoman Risa Heller denounced Variety reporter Tatiana Siegel’s 4,000-word piece that indicated Zucker was looking to buy CNN in a scathing statement to Fox News Digital.
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Jeff Zucker, who was forced out of CNN last year ahead of a long-planned merger that put the network under the control of Warner Bros. Discovery, has been long rumored to want to purchase CNN in order to regain control. (Getty Images)
"There used to be a time when Variety held its content and its reporters to a high standard of truth and facts in journalism, but those days are clearly over. It is stunning to read a piece that is so patently and aggressively false," Heller said. "On numerous occasions, we made it clear to the reporter and her editors that they were planning to publish countless anecdotes and alleged incidents that never happened. They did so anyway."
The Variety report published Tuesday cited sources that claim "Zucker has spent the past year traveling the globe to meet with potential partners in a bid for CNN."
"After nearly a decade running the network, Zucker never could let go, say those in his orbit," Siegel wrote.
Throughout the piece, Variety mentioned that Zucker has attempted to recruit everyone from Jeff Bezos, Laurene Powell Jobs and Alex Soros to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich to help fund his CNN takeover. However, each claim is refuted in the very same article.
"He has never discussed buying CNN with Jeff Bezos, Laurene Powell Jobs or Alex Soros. Jeff has never met or spoken to Alex Soros," Zucker’s spokeswoman told Variety. "He has never met or spoken to Roman Abramovich."
CNN’s parent company insists the long-struggling network isn’t for sale either way.
"We are committed to CNN. It is not for sale," a Warner Bros. Discovery spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
Jeff Zucker was showered with praise from CNN’s biggest stars when he was shown the door for what was initially chalked up as consensual relationship with fellow CNN executive Allison Gollust that was never disclosed to the company. (Getty Images)
Zucker was beloved by staffers, and many of CNN’s biggest stars were openly distraught when he was terminated last year. Oliver Darcy, CNN’s in-house media reporter who was hired during the Zucker-era and feuded with Zucker’s since-fired successor Chris Licht, dedicated much of his "Reliable Sources" newsletter to condemning the Variety report. He also first reported the statement from Heller.
Meanwhile, Variety defended its report.
"Variety stands by our investigative story about CNN written by one of the best journalists in the business," the outlet told CNN.
A CNN insider told Fox News Digital that there had been overtures made between Warner Bros. Discovery and Zucker since his stormy exit to "smooth the relationship" and recognize what he'd done for the company. They added the media industry believes David Zaslav will eventually sell CNN because it's pragmatic, but there would likely be many suitors of a global media asset.
Zucker’s CNN departure was initially chalked up to failing to disclose a consensual relationship with fellow CNN exec Allison Gollust, but then-parent company WarnerMedia later admitted he also violated its news standards and practices. Vague violations were found during a third-party probe into CNN’s handling of the "issues" associated with ex-anchor Chris Cuomo and his older brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D.
Jeff Zucker, left, was replaced by Chris Licht in 2022 as head of CNN. Licht was fired a little over a year later. (Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
WarnerMedia never explained how Zucker violated CNN's standards and practices before new leadership took control when the merger put the network under Warner Bros. Discovery control.
Zucker rose to fame as a producer for the Matt Lauer-era "Today" before rising up the ranks to eventually become CEO of NBCUniversal. He was fired in 2010 and eventually landed at CNN in 2013, where he oversaw the network’s shift to the left, a far cry from founder Ted Turner’s just-the-facts approach to journalism.
Zucker is known to remain close with many CNN personalities and executives.
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Fox News' David Rutz contributed to this report.
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