After a year of chaos, CNN bets on new CEO Thompson to focus on long-term viability
A person walks past the headquarters of the Cable News Network (CNN) on November 17, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
When former CNN Chief Executive Officer Chris Licht started running the news organization last year, he had a mission from his boss, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav: change the network’s programming and tone to emphasize news rather than “advocacy” journalism.
With Licht now fired, CNN’s incoming CEO Mark Thompson has a new job: everything else.
Thompson, who starts at CNN on Oct. 9, has had preliminary discussions with Zaslav and other members of CNN’s leadership about strategic ideas and priorities, according to people familiar with the matter, who declined to speak on the record because the discussions were private. He has made no decisions about CNN’s operations and won’t until he has had a chance to meet with staffers and learn the business, said the people.
Still, some areas of emphasis are clear. Thompson will focus on building digital subscription businesses around CNN.com and creating programming for a younger audience on CNN Max, the network’s live news service on Warner Bros. Discovery’s “Max” streaming service, said two of the people.
Licht’s background was programming, as he launched “Morning Joe” on MSNBC and “CBS This Morning” with Charlie Rose, Norah O’Donnell, and Gayle King. Zaslav hired him as a TV programmer — and ultimately fired him after Licht lost the confidence of his employees and failed to deliver ratings winners.
Much of Licht’s short reign, which lasted a little over a year, centered around depoliticizing CNN. Zaslav and Licht agreed that CNN had gotten a reputation as left-leaning, and tried to refocus the network as a down-the-middle outlet that could appeal to both Democrats and Republicans. Licht and CNN’s leadership since his firing — a four-person team of Amy Entelis, Virginia Moseley, Eric Sherling and David Leavy — overhauled CNN’s linear shows, including a new morning show and a revamped primetime lineup.
Licht struggled to win over CNN employees by purposely taking a hands-off approach to differentiate his style from former CNN chief Jeff Zucker, who resigned in February 2022 after failing to disclose a consensual relationship with a coworker. Zaslav felt Licht moved too slowly to make decisions and didn’t appropriately relate to CNN’s talent, according to people familiar with the matter. Licht believed he couldn’t be his authentic self given Zaslav’s mandate to be a non-nonsense leader who had to reform CNN’s image and cut costs, the people said. Licht had to lay off hundreds of employees as part of a broader Warner Bros. Discovery headcount reduction.
Mark Thompson, CEO of CNN
AP
While Licht largely focused on linear programming, Thompson will concentrate on making CNN a sustainable business for the next five years — a timeline he’s already discussed with some members of CNN leadership, according to people familiar with the matter. The work to change CNN’s reputation is largely complete, according to people familiar with Warner Bros. Discovery executives’ thinking.
How to cover Donald Trump, an issue which defined Licht’s tenure, probably isn’t in Thompson’s top five priorities as he starts the job, according to a person familiar with the matter. Existing CNN executives believe they already have the infrastructure in place to appropriately handle the former president and current Republican primary candidate as the 2024 election ramps up, the person said.
Entelis, Moseley, Sherling and Leavy all plan to stay at CNN as Thompson takes over as CEO, according to people familiar with the matter. All will report to Thompson. A CNN spokesperson declined to comment on speculation about Thompson’s eventual moves and strategy.
Digital strategy
Thompson’s last job was CEO of the New York Times, which he held from 2012 to 2020. He grew the Times’ subscription digital business, which launched in 2011, from less than 1 million subscribers to about 7 million before he left the company in September 2020. During his time as the newspaper’s CEO, shares rose from $9 to about $43 — a gain of more than 375%.
CNN hasn’t had a clear digital strategy since Zaslav and Licht decided to kill off CNN+ after just a month in 2022. CNN+, at the time, was a little-watched streaming service that launched without much content. Former CNN chief Jeff Zucker and then-CNN digital chief Andrew Morse hoped it would eventually become CNN’s version of The New York Times — a subscription news product that could feature more than just video.
Thompson will still have to preside over CNN’s linear network, an entity that has declined along with the erosion of the pay-TV cable bundle. But Zaslav is counting on him to use CNN.com and its 149 million monthly unique visitors as a funnel to build digital subscription businesses, said people familiar with the matter.
One idea being discussed is to build several subscription products on specific topics within CNN.com, which would remain without a paywall, said the people. For customers who want all access, CNN could offer a bundle for a discount. Paying a monthly fee could unlock on-demand or live CNN programming on certain subjects, give users access to particular pieces of in-depth or focused journalism and provide other benefits.
Thompson may also explore ways to integrate Bleacher Report with CNN.com, just as The New York Times has done with The Athletic, the online sports media company it acquired last year for $550 million, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Programming CNN Max
Before joining The New York Times, Thompson was director-general (a combination of chief executive and editor-in-chief) of the British Broadcasting Corporation. He’ll have a chance to develop new shows at CNN Max, a tab in Warner Bros. Discovery’s larger Max streaming service.
With CNN Max, Thompson will try to program for a younger audience. CNN’s linear network largely appeals to older, 60-and-up adults who still subscribe to traditional pay-TV.
Thompson will have some runway to invest in CNN Max. CNN’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization is expected to be closer to $1 billion in 2023 after dipping to $750 million in 2022 when it had about $200 million in losses tied to CNN+, according to people familiar with the matter. Attention from the U.S. presidential election should also improve advertising revenue in 2024.
To keep CNN relevant, Thompson will need to figure out news programming that millennials and younger viewers will watch. Former CNN leadership feared news content would get swallowed up by a larger streaming service, believing it would be difficult to convince viewers to eschew entertainment programming when both are on the same platform. That led Zucker and former WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar to push for CNN+, a standalone streaming service.
CNN has already begun considering ideas to solve that problem, including potentially alerting Max viewers who are watching on-demand entertainment to CNN breaking news.
“This is a game that is still very much to be played,” JB Perrette, president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming operations, said of the streaming-news business last month in an interview with Variety. “Nobody has figured it out yet.”
That will be Thompson’s job.
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Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump gestures at the Bitcoin 2024 event in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., July 27, 2024.
Kevin Wurm | Reuters
With the levers of power in Washington, D.C., about to change hands, a raft of pro-crypto legislation is expected from Congress and the Trump administration. To date, there’s been less focus on the cybersecurity side of the political effort, which could be an issue for crypto in relation to its popularity among a wary U.S. population.
Cryptocurrency, which includes not just bitcoin but ethereum, dogecoin, and others, has a faithful following among American adults. According to the Pew Research Center, 17% of American adults have traded in crypto, but that market share of American wallets has remained virtually unchanged since 2021. Meanwhile, according to a poll Pew conducted shortly before the election, 63% of adults say they have little to no confidence in crypto investing or trading, and don’t think cryptocurrencies are reliable and safe.
The incoming Trump administration has been touting its crypto bona fides, with a focus on the industry rather than the consumer.
“The No. 1 most important priority for the industry is to make sure they have a regulatory framework so that they can do business,” said Dusty Johnson (R-South Dakota), who helped author the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21) that addresses the treatment of digital assets under U.S. law. The law passed in the House with bipartisan support but has not been taken up by the Senate.
FIT21 did contain specific crypto-cybersecurity provisions, which Johnson predicts will be built upon in the new administration.
Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-Pennsylvania), Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture and a co-author of FIT21, says the cybersecurity provisions in the bill are still key in the upcoming administration.
“FIT21 requires important cybersecurity safeguards for financial intermediaries engaging with digital assets,” Thompson said in a statement to CNBC, adding that FIT21 includes explicit provisions to ensure that regulated firms take steps to evaluate and mitigate cyber vulnerabilities to protect both the services they offer and assets they hold on behalf of their customers.
“These cybersecurity requirements are critical for protecting digital asset markets and market participants,” Thompson said.
Some experts, however, doubt that there will be as much action on the security side of the legislation, given that crypto proponents are closely advising the Trump administration.
“Personnel is policy,” says Jeff Le, vice president of global government affairs and public policy at Security Scorecard and a former assistant cabinet secretary in the California governor’s office. The top ranks of the incoming economic team, made up of SEC Chair-designate Paul Atkins, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Treasury Secretary-designate Scott Bessent, “have had a track record of supporting cryptocurrencies,” Le said.
Among other major posts in his second administration, President-elect Trump has appointed venture capital investor David Sacks to be his AI and crypto “czar.”
Crypto industry’s role in political realignment
The crypto industry donated significant sums to the 2024 election cycle, contributions that were not limited to the GOP, but focused more broadly on lawmakers with an industry-friendly view of crypto regulation. It’s likely that will continue to influence political calculations. The pro-crypto and bipartisan super PAC Fairshake and its affiliates have already raised over $100 million for the 2026 midterm elections, including commitments from Coinbase and Silicon Valley venture fund Andreessen Horowitz, an early backer of Coinbase. Top Andreessen Horowitz executives have been tapped for roles in the Trump administration.
“We have the most pro-crypto Congress ever [in] history, we have an extraordinarily pro-crypto president coming into office,” Faryar Shirzad, chief policy officer at Coinbase, recently told CNBC.
“It is rare to see cryptocurrency proponents advocate for increased regulation in the space, regardless of reason,” said Jason Baker, senior threat intelligence consultant at GuidePoint Security.
Baker says the anonymity and independence of cryptocurrency are often cited as primary benefits that legislation would curtail, and cryptocurrency’s decentralized nature makes it hard to regulate in a traditional sense.
“Given current signaling from the incoming administration and the interests of cryptocurrency proponents influential to the administration, we do not anticipate significant advances in cryptocurrency regulation within the next four years,” Baker said.
If there isn’t much action on regulation, there are some obvious ramifications for cybersecurity, he said, driven by the correlation between a pro-crypto Washington, D.C., and bullish bets by investors on digital assets.
“Cybercrime is often driven by benefits from increasing cryptocurrency value. In ransomware, for example, ransoms are commonly demanded in USD, but payments are made most frequently in bitcoin. When the value of bitcoin increases, cybercriminals will benefit,” Baker said.
The value of bitcoin has risen significantly over the past three months in what has been a risk-on market environment.
“Future de-emphasis on cryptocurrency regulation may positively signal that cybercrime operations in bitcoin remain viable and unlikely to suffer government disruption to operators in the space,” Baker said.
Cybercriminals have also been changing tactics to evade legislation and scrutiny, Baker added, switching to more under-the-radar cryptocurrencies like Monero.
Ransomware’s potential role in Congressional action
Baker predicts regulation centered on organizations issuing cryptocurrency payments — whether in the form of a ransom payment or for other purposes — is more likely achievable and palatable in the current regulatory environment.
“This could include, for example, increased requirements for reporting ransom payments when made, a policy which has been floated without gaining substantial traction in recent years,” Baker said. This approach can be argued as regulating end users and purposes rather than the underlying cryptocurrency itself.
In addition to ransomware payments to restore access to technology systems, there are other reasons why payment in cryptocurrency is common in digital extortion schemes, including to protect the identity and operational security of the criminal. Private organizations may also opt to use crypto to purchase leaked data or credentials which have been made available on illicit forums.
There could also be situations where private individuals attempt to report and receive payment for discovered vulnerabilities under a “bug bounty” program — whether voluntary or coerced (so-called “beg bounty”). They may request payment in cryptocurrency out of personal preference or general desire for privacy, and private organizations may or may not oblige.
“While there are doubtless other options for organizations to use cryptocurrency in some form, these are the primary forms we see on a regular or more frequent basis,” Baker said. “Though such actions would almost certainly have downstream impacts on cryptocurrency value by virtue of their impact on transaction volume,” Baker added.
Steve McNew, global leader of blockchain and digital assets at FTI Consulting, thinks some cyber-crypto legislation may happen, especially governing when a company victimized by a ransomware pays their attackers in cryptocurrency.
“There’s more than just public policy at issue,” said McNew. If a company has been compromised in a cyberattack and is required to make public disclosure of the ransoms it paid out, it can result in the company becoming a bigger future target for other criminal enterprises, McNew said. While it might make sense, on one hand, to provide disclosure as to where funds are going and what cryptocurrencies were used in a payment, doing so can put the company (and by extension its customers, employees and partners) in harm’s way.
“So, any policy decisions around cryptocurrency disclosures in this context will require balancing the need for transparency around the use of cryptocurrency in criminal matters alongside the risks such transparency might exacerbate,” McNew says.
Though FIT21 passed the House with broad bipartisan support, it did not address these issues specifically.
Le expects some legislation action that may attempt to address this topic. “The next Congress could see more traction for proposed legislation like Cryptocurrency Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2022, which allows companies to share information regarding cybersecurity threats with the federal government and with one another,” he said.
Le said Congress may also revisit the work of outgoing Financial Services Chair Patrick McHenry (R-North Carolina) and Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-Colorado) and the Ransomware and Financial Stability Act of 2024, which aimed at “strengthening the resilience of the U.S. financial system against ransomware attacks, establishing clear protocols for ransom payments, and ensuring that such payments, including those involving cryptocurrencies, are made within a controlled and legally compliant framework.”
But he added that it is unclear if the Trump administration will continue the Biden administration’s leadership role in the International Counter Ransomware Initiative, a 68-country coalition aimed at preventing the payments of ransomware.
The broader bitcoin governance battle
McNew says that many basic parameters surrounding crypto, even down to its definition, could hamstring legislation, even aspects of it intended to foster innovation and adoption of the industry.
“U.S. lawmakers have work to do in determining roles, responsibilities, and basic parameters for how the industry will be governed before any meaningful legislation can take hold,” McNew said. As an example, establishing a designated authority for digital assets is an imperative that has yet to be addressed.
Basic governance structure was a major sticking point during the Biden administration, and a primary reason Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler was a thorn in the side of the crypto industry.
“Lawmakers must decide whether responsibility will fall under the SEC, the CFTC, or another body. Issues around taxation and broker-dealer definitions for digital assets markets will also need to be defined and provided with a set of clear rules for legislation to be effective,” McNew said, adding that given how closely divided the House will be in the next session, it may be tough to craft an agreement.
Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Before Jack Nader started posting beauty videos on TikTok in 2023, he was working as a Starbucks barista in Chicago and living at home with his parents.
But after Nader, who’s now 21, started taking his videos seriously in April of that year, his TikTok account blew up. With more than half a million followers, he was able to generate enough income through brand sponsorships and his share of ad revenue that he quit his coffee shop gig and got his own apartment.
“This is my 9-to-5 job,” Nader, who said he makes between $1,000 and $12,000 per month as a creator, told CNBC. “This is what I do to make a living. This is how I pay for my groceries. This is how millions of small businesses make their money.”
Nader’s new reality, however, is far from stable. TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, is nearing a Jan. 19 deadline by which it has to be sold, or it faces a ban in the U.S. Like many other creators who have come to rely on TikTok, Nader has been urging his fans to find him on other social media apps before he potentially loses them altogether and the substantial income stream that they represent.
“Not everyone from my TikTok following is going to come over, and that’s really sad,” Nader said.
The TikTok risk has been present for years, but was amped up in April, after President Joe Biden signed a law that requires ByteDance to divest the short-form video app this month. If ByteDance fails to sell TikTok in time, Apple and Google will be forced by law to ensure their platforms no longer support the app in the U.S.
President-elect Donald Trump, who favored a TikTok ban during his first administration, has since flip-flopped on the matter. Late last month, he urged the Supreme Court to intervene and forcibly delay implementation of Biden’s ban to give him time to find a “political resolution.” His inauguration is Jan. 20.
Trump’s rhetoric on TikTok began to turn after he met in February with billionaire Jeff Yass, a Republican megadonor and a major investor in ByteDance who also owns a stake in the owner of Truth Social, Trump’s social media company.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments from both sides on Jan. 10. During the more than two-hour session, justices peppered TikTok’s head lawyer with questions about the app’s ties to China and appeared generally unconvinced by TikTok’s main argument, that the law violates the free speech rights of its millions of individual users in the U.S.
On Thursday, businessman Frank McCourt’s internet advocacy group Project Liberty announced it had submitted a proposal to buy TikTok from ByteDance. Calling it, “The People’s Bid for TikTok,” the group said it would restructure the app to exist on an American-owned platform and prioritize users’ digital safety, though it didn’t disclose terms of its bid.
Jack Nader, 21 of Chicago, is a full-time TikTok creator who has begun moving his content from the Chinese-owned app onto Meta’s Instagram Reels and Alphabet’s YouTube Shorts.
Courtesy of Jack Nader
A ruling could come at an point. Nader isn’t waiting for a resolution to figure out what’s next.
He’s currently downloading four or five of his TikTok videos each day to save them as he migrates his content to Meta’s Instagram Reels and Alphabet’s YouTube Shorts. After downloading the videos, Nader re-edits them, optimizing the clips for each app.
“It took me over a year and a half to build the following that I have right now on TikTok to make it my full time job,” Nader said. “Now it’s kind of about rebuilding that entire brand on another platform, which is not ideal.”
Nader said he isn’t yet making any money from Reels or Shorts.
‘This isn’t just a silly app’
Danisha Carter, 27, is in a similar spot. A resident of Los Angeles, Carter has been a full-time creator since 2021, posting social commentary and lifestyle videos. Although she’d known about the TikTok ban for months, she said she had a wake-up call in the middle of the night in November.
“I need to start taking this seriously before I lose access to the platform that I built and the followers that I built,” Carter said, recalling her panicked realization. “I need to not waste any more time.”
Carter, who previously worked in luxury retail, has ended her TikTok videos by telling her followers that they can find her on YouTube, Instagram and Patreon.
“This isn’t just a silly app that people have been using to post dance videos,” said Carter, who makes about $4,000 per month on average from her TikTok activity. “It’s been remarkable in terms of changing people’s lives, changing people’s businesses.”
Danisha Carter, 27 of Los Angeles, is a full-time TikTok creator who has begun ending her videos by asking her fans to follow her on YouTube, Instagram and Patreon before the Jan. 19 law banning the Chinese-owned app takes effect.
Courtesy of Danisha Carter
TikTok could still find a way to stay operational in the U.S., but if the app does get suspended, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram are poised to be the biggest winners in the fallout, experts predict.
TikTok has about 115 million monthly active users in the U.S., well behind YouTube at 258 million and Facebook at 253 million, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. Instagram has 131 million. Short videos, the kind that mimic clips on TikTok, are gaining viewership across those apps, accounting for about 41% of user time on Instagram, Sensor Tower data shows.
While TikTok has a smaller userbase in the U.S. and lower share of total ad dollars than its top rivals, it’s the dominant platform for creators, particularly those focused on short-form content.
Influencer marketing platform HyperAuditor defines a creator as a user with over 1,000 subscribers. TikTok has nearly 8.5 million people in the U.S. who fit that category, compared with about 5.2 million on Instagram and 1.1 million on YouTube, according to HyperAuditor.
Meanwhile, TikTok accounts for 9% of digital ad spend on social media platforms in the U.S., according to Sensor Tower, compared to 31% for Facebook, 25% for Instagram and 21% for YouTube.
Should TikTok go away, “this equates to billions of dollars potentially up in the air for competitors to seize,” Sensor Tower told CNBC in an email. Emarketer estimates that Meta and YouTube could grab about half of the reallocated dollars should a ban go into effect.
That type of market shift has taken place elsewhere. India banned TikTok in June 2020, when the app had about 150 million monthly users in the country. A year later, Instagram’s monthly active users in India had increased by 20% while YouTube’s had gone up 11% year-over-year, according to Sensor Tower estimates.
“That’s when we saw the biggest jump in Reels utilization ever,” said Meghana Dhar, a former Instagram executive who was at the company at the time of the India ban. “Should TikTok get banned and creators have to scramble, between YouTube Shorts and Instagram, a lot of creators are already hedging their bets.”
At Meta, leaders within Instagram scheduled numerous impromptu meetings on Friday after listening to the oral arguments before the Supreme Court, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC. Though many within the company had long expected TikTok would remain active in the U.S., leaders at Instagram began directing their teams to prepare for a potential influx of users should the ban go through, said the person, who asked not to be named due to confidentiality.
(L-R) Sarah Baus of Charleston, S.C., holds a sign that reads “Keep TikTok” as she and other content creators Sallye Miley of Jackson, Mississippi, and Callie Goodwin of Columbia, S.C., stand outside the U.S. Supreme Court Building as the court hears oral arguments on whether to overturn or delay a law that could lead to a ban of TikTok in the U.S., on January 10, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Andrew Harnik | Getty Images
Need to diversify
Kristina Nolan, vice president of media services at marketing agency DMi Partners, said the TikTok situation is the latest example of why social media creators should always be diversifying their followings.
“We’re consistently reminding them to create audience depth on other platforms,” said Nolan, whose agency works with more than 50,000 creators.
In recent weeks weeks, DMi has seen more of its creators start to migrate followers elsewhere in a variety of ways, Nolan said. But they have to be careful. Nolan said that some creators worry that TikTok will “shadow ban” them, or reduce their exposure to users, if the technology recognizes that they’re promoting profiles elsewhere.
Some creators will suggest followers find them on “fbook,” for example, rather than writing out Facebook. Others will bleep out just enough words to get the message to their followers while hoping to avoid TikTok’s detection, Nolan said. Some creators are teaming up with brands to incentivize users by holding prize giveaways for users who follow them on other apps, she added.
“They’re obviously not saying, ‘Come over to Instagram,'” Nolan said. “They’re like, ‘Go follow me on’ and they’re mouthing it.”
After working on a horse farm, Nealie Boschma, 27, was able to move to Los Angeles and live full-time as a creator after starting to post videos to TikTok in 2022.
Courtesy of Nealie Boschma
Even with multiple other options for finding large audiences, creators are worried about trying to rebuild their business and whether enough followers will migrate with them.
“Whatever is going to happen is going to happen, and we’re just going to make the most of it,” said Nealie Boschma, 27 of Los Angeles, who has been living as a full-time creator since 2022. “That’s just how I have to look at it, so I don’t panic.”
Despite the potential upheaval, Boschma, said she views the potential ban as an opportunity to expand her career and get more creative.
Boschma started making TikTok videos after quitting her job working on a horse farm, choosing to live off of her savings while experimenting as a creator. Boschma’s bet on herself worked and she’s earned enough to live in Los Angeles, paying for her own place and a car.
Now she’s making sure her TikTok fans see the links to her other profiles so they can find her on other apps, including YouTube. If the ban goes through, Boschma said she plans to make a video specifically asking her fans to follow her elsewhere.
It’s going to be quite a lift, as she currently has 2 million TikTok followers compared to just 278,000 on YouTube. But Boschma said she is going to try her hand at making longer-form videos, something she’s always wanted to explore.
“Whether TikTok goes away or not, I do think something will work out” Boschma said. “I’ll find my footing in other places, like I did on TikTok.”
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