Embattled CNN CEO Chris Licht has stepped down less than a week after brutal Atlantic profile

Chris Licht has faced criticism from inside and outside the company on his leadership, especially in the wake of a searing Atlantic profile.

• CNN CEO Chris Licht will step down, the company said Wednesday.
• Licht has faced criticism from inside and outside the company on his leadership.
• He was the subject of a searing Atlantic profile published Friday.

Embattled CNN CEO Chris Licht will step down, effective immediately, the company announced Wednesday. Puck's Dylan Byers first broke the news.

Warner Bros. Discovery will undertake an "active search" for a replacement for the CEO. WBD said the interim leadership team on the content side will be Amy Entelis (EVP of talent and content development), Virginia Moseley (EVP of editorial), and Eric Sherling (EVP of US programming). COO David Leavy, who WBD CEO David Zaslav installed last week to run the business side of CNN, will continue to do so.

"Unfortunately, things did not work out the way we had hoped — and ultimately that's on me," Zaslav wrote in a note to staffers, according to Semafor's Max Tani. "I take responsibility."

Licht had been under fire both inside and outside the company for his decision-making, especially in the aftermath of a brutal Atlantic profile of his leadership that was published Friday. One media heavyweight likened reading the profile to watching a "snuff film."

CNN's own media reporter, Oliver Darcy, wrote on Monday that Licht had "lost the room," despite his efforts to assure staffers on Monday that he would "fight like hell" to win back their trust.

"You deserve a leader who will be in the trenches, fighting to ensure CNN remains the world's most trusted name in news," Licht told staff Monday, according to reporting from former CNN reporter Brian Stelter.

But it seems it was too little too late from Licht.

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that top CNN talent including Anderson Cooper, Jake Tapper, and Erin Burnett had criticized Licht to Leavy.

The Atlantic profile chronicled some of the challenges Licht had faced since he assumed the CEO spot in May 2022. He was seen by many as aloof, especially compared to his predecessor Jeff Zucker. In one scene, The Atlantic's Tim Alberta reported that Licht ignored his colleagues at CNN's holiday party, instead reading critical coverage of himself on his phone.

The profile also delved into the infamous Trump town hall in May, which was supposed to be a breakthrough moment for Licht but instead turned into a nightmare.

"Normally brash and self-assured, Licht was pale, his shoulders slumped," Alberta wrote of seeing Licht immediately following the event. "He scanned the room with anxious eyes. Spotting me, he summoned a breezy chord. 'Well,' Licht said, 'that wasn't boring!'"

Licht stuck by his decision to air the event, which drew in 3.3 million viewers, but other CNN insiders publicly disagreed. 

Following the town hall, Darcy wrote, "It's hard to see how America was served by the spectacle of lies that aired on CNN Wednesday evening."

That public rebuke was followed by criticism from others including Christiane Amanpour, CNN's chief international correspondent, who said in a Columbia Journalism School commencement speech: "My management believes they did the right thing as service to the American people. I still respectfully disagree with allowing Donald Trump to appear in that particular format."

But it was not any one revelation in the Atlantic profile that precipitated Licht's downfall, but rather that sum total of its 15,000-word portrait of him as a leader. The months of access Alberta got gave him a front-row seat as Licht gradually lost his hold on CNN and the confidence of his journalists.

Licht was always going to have a tough job. One example: He had to immediately preside over the abrupt shutdown of streaming service CNN+, just a few months after its launch. And everyone in the cable TV business is facing an awful landscape with ratings.

But after losing the faith of his newsroom, it was perhaps a foregone conclusion that he would lose the faith of Zaslav, the WBD CEO. It just took a hard look inside CNN from the Atlantic for it to finally happen.