CNN is reportedly paying anchor Anderson Cooper $18 million a yr — an eye-popping sum that might be within the crosshairs when the ratings-challenged community is spun off by its debt-ridden mother or father firm.
Cooper, the face of the community and host of its primetime present at 8 p.m., together with different anchors like Kaitlan Collins and Jake Tapper face an unsure future following Monday’s gorgeous announcement by Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav in regards to the looming break up, in line with the Puck e-newsletter.
Zaslav tapped WBD Chief Monetary Officer Gunnar Wiedenfels to take over CNN and different cable belongings together with TNT, TBS, HGTV as a part of a brand new firm known as World Networks.
A supply advised The Publish that CNN staffers are nervous about Wiedenfel, who they are saying has a fame for ruthlessly reducing prices.
“Gunnar news is not good,” the particular person stated. “He is slash and burn.”
Puck media author Dylan Byers singled out Cooper and his $18 million wage as a doable goal, contemplating the community stays mired in final place within the rankings.
“Why, for instance, would Gunnar pay Anderson Cooper $18 million a year when Kaitlan Collins draws the same ratings at roughly a fifth of the salary?” Byers wrote.
Based on the newest Nielsen rankings, “Anderson Cooper 360” drew 647,000 complete viewers on Tuesday — or about $27 per viewer.
“The Supply with Kaitlan Collins, which airs at 9 p.m., pulled in 829,000 viewers on Tuesday, in line with Nielsen.
Cooper’s precise wage has by no means been reported and its not clear the place Byers obtained the determine. The Publish beforehand reported that the son of Gloria Vanderbilt is paid as a lot as $20 million a yr.
A CNN spokesperson declined to remark Cooper’s wage.
Cooper, who joined CNN in 2001, could not stick round for the purported massacre.
“By the time Gunnar gets around to it, Anderson will likely have determined that he no longer wants to read the day’s news to less than a million people every night, either,” Byers wrote.
The CNN rep vigorously pushed again on Byers’ suggestion that high-salaried anchors could get extreme haircuts amid anticipated restructuring underneath Wiedenfels.
“This is a complete fabrication. There is zero truth to this,” the spokesperson stated.
The cable information pioneer — which touts itself as “The Most Trusted Name in News” — had paid out hefty contracts however its rankings have plunged to historic lows lately.
Throughout breaking information occasions, Fox Information has usually quadrupled CNN’s viewers.
Fox Information is a unit of Fox Corp — sister firm to The Publish’s company mother or father Information Corp.
The economics of sustaining a sprawling world information operation with costly expertise have gotten more and more onerous to defend, particularly as youthful viewers flip to TikTok and YouTube for information.
Final fall, CNN denied raises to veteran anchors Tapper and Wolf Blitzer as rank-and-file journalists braced for layoffs, as The Publish reported.
As a part of the Warner Bros. Discovery breakup, Zaslav will hold HBO, Warner Bros. Studios and the Max streaming platform.
Final week, 59% of shareholders voted in opposition to his huge $51.9 million pay package deal for 2024 — a robust signal of investor frustration.
WBD was shaped in 2022 in a $43.1 billion merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery.
The vast majority of WBD’s roughly $37 billion in debt load might be foisted onto the World Community.
