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CNN CEO Chris Licht announced during a network editorial call Thursday morning that he was adding a new member to his leadership team: David Leavy, joining as Chief Operating Officer.
Industry experts familiar with Leavy have described this as a smart hire of an operationally-savvy partner to the first-time CEO, especially as the network struggles through growing pains. Nonetheless, the hire raises new questions about Licht and his boss, Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav.
It’s a brilliant move, as some insiders see it, a sign of troubled waters to others. Undoubtedly, it’s an admission that CNN and Licht need some operational support.
Leavy, a heavy hitter at WBD, has been tapped to drop down into CNN — effectively a demotion — to ostensibly report to Licht. The decision shows Zaslav is hearing something (alarm bells?), and CNN may need a life preserver. When does a mission to provide operational support officially become a rescue operation?
“There’s no way they would put David Leavy down into CNN to work for Chris Licht,” one industry veteran told Mediaite. “He’s too important to Zaslav to take what on paper sounds like a demotion. It sure sounds like he’s taking one for the team.”
Several CNN executives who spoke to Mediaite under the condition of anonymity seemed encouraged by the hire and, while not delighted to have been moved down in the food chain, were happy with the new addition to the leadership team to help right a ship currently listing.
There is no question that Licht’s first year has not gone to plan. He can take genuine credit for beginning the restoration of CNN’s reputation in a post-Trump world (and post-Jeff Zucker personality reality television pro-wrestling hot take vibe) that has come with far fewer viewers than the network has had for some time.
But while ratings are an essential measure of success and influence, it’s not the only thing that matters in the cable news business. Roughly 80% of the revenue comes from cable provider carriage fees. And not all ad rates are the same depending on programming adjacency and reputation.
And so Licht’s primary mission has been to lift CNN out of the “cable news ghetto” of its opinion-programming-addicted competitors, Fox News and MSNBC — by cutting the punditry and instead prioritizing news. Oh, and maybe increasing ad rates — and a share of the larger ad buy across cable news networks — along the way.
Licht inherited a network that was built for hot takes and anti-Trump venom, which made sense — and certainly made money — in the Trump era. But it cost CNN dearly in other areas and required a gut renovation. Oh, and the team of workers hired to rebuild this new house? They are largely still in love with the designs of the old CEO, who went out of his way to validate and encourage their “speak truth to power” entitlement, even towards their new boss.
Cut to a Trump town hall that should have been a crowning achievement of Licht’s vision for his CNN, and the loudest complaints of the network’s leadership came from the very same entitled rank and file. The fact that ratings are down so much that a recent prime-time show had fewer viewers than a Matt Gaetz-hosted show on Newsmax? No es bueno.
So it is in this milieu that Leavy arrives to take over operational duties from Licht, who can instead focus on programming and digital. The COO can concentrate on sales, promotions, and other such responsibilities.
For the last year, Licht has been tied to the hip of Zaslav, who has given his hire full support as CEO of CNN. Many have long felt that Zaslav was actively engaged in the operational efforts at the network, which freed Licht up to build the CNN brand and work on ratings.
David Leavy is far from a rookie and has, in fact, long been a trusted number two to Zaslav, having served as COO at Discovery under Zaslav before being named Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at the recently merged WBD conglomerate.
So Licht now has a new COO to help him, but that will almost certainly come at the expense of time and access he gets with the WBD CEO, a guy fresh from playing the role of “Hollywood Power Player” at the Cannes Film Festival, and earned nearly $250 million last year, a number that ruffled feathers amid the current writers strike.
The good news for Chris Licht is that he has a new and dedicated partner to support him operationally — someone who can navigate WBD, thereby allowing Licht to focus solely on CNN. What becomes of his relationship with Zaslav, who may very well just be throwing his CNN chief a rescue raft to help him keep afloat? Or might he be creating some distance from a hire that he is starting to regret? Time will tell.
There is no question that this creates a layer between Licht and Zaslav. At the very least, the duet added a third to become a trio. And menages a trois are not the foundation for long-term relationships.
This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.
