Chris Licht, the embattled chief executive and chairman of CNN, whose brief one-year tenure at the network was stained by a series of severe missteps, announced on Wednesday that he will depart the company.
"I met with Chris and he will be leaving CNN," David Zaslav, the chief executive of parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, told CNN employees at the start of the network's daily editorial call Wednesday.
Licht's departure, which came days after a devastating 15,000-word profile in The Atlantic, capped a tumultuous year for CNN, marked by layoffs, historically low ratings, and rock-bottom employee morale.
In the wake of The Atlantic article, Licht apologized to staffers Monday, telling the global news organization in a somber tone that he did not recognize himself when reading portions of the story and that he was sorry for having distracted from the newsroom's work.
Licht, who described the experience as "tremendously humbling," vowed to "fight like hell" to win over the trust of employees.
But it became increasingly clear that Licht's tenure as the chief executive was quickly coming to an end.
Zaslav said Licht's job was "never going to be easy" and praised the "amazing career" he has had, wishing him well on his future endeavors.
"For a number of reasons things didn't work out and that's unfortunate," Zaslav said. "It's really unfortunate. And ultimately that's on me. And I take full responsibility for that."
Zaslav told CNN employees that the company is "in the process of conducting a wide search," both internally and externally, for a new network chief. He cautioned that it will "take a while."
In the interim, Zazlav said the leadership team will be comprised of Amy Entelis, executive vice president of talent and content development; Virginia Moseley, executive vice president of editorial; and Eric Sherling, executive vice president of U.S. programming. David Leavy, who was recently installed as chief operating officer, will continue overseeing the company's commercial activities.
