CNN+ customers “will receive prorated subscription fee refunds,” the company said.
The decision was made by new management after CNN’s former parent company WarnerMedia merged with Discovery to form Warner Bros. Discovery earlier this month.
The former CNN+ management team’s vision runs counter to Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s plan to unify all of the company’s brands under one streaming service. Some CNN+ programming might eventually live on through this service. Other programming will be transitioned to CNN’s main television network.
“In a complex streaming market, consumers want simplicity and an all-in-service that offers a better experience and value than standalone offerings, and for the company a more sustainable business model to fuel our future investments in great journalism and storytelling.” , JB Perrette, Discovery’s head of streaming, said in a statement.
“We have very exciting opportunities ahead in the streaming space, and CNN, one of the world’s leading reputation assets, will play an important role there,” added Perrette.
Perrette and new CNN CEO Chris Licht informed employees of the decision at a meeting Thursday afternoon. Licht bluntly told employees it was a “uniquely shitty situation.”
Hundreds of CNN+ employees could lose their jobs. Licht said in an internal memo that “all CNN+ employees will continue to receive pay and benefits for the next 90 days to explore opportunities at CNN, CNN Digital and elsewhere in the Warner Bros. Discovery family.”
Employees who are not otherwise employed by the company will receive at least six months’ severance pay, he added.
Licht said in a town hall-style meeting with employees that “this was an incredibly successful launch” but just didn’t fit with the plans of the newly merged company.
“It’s not your fault you got the rug pulled out from under you,” he said, as he vowed to minimize the impact on staff.
A CNN+ staffer at City Hall described the mood as “total and utter shock” that turned to despair.
“At first people really freaked out,” explained the person, who asked not to be known to openly describe the situation. “And then towards the end of the meeting, it just got sad. All the teams just pushed against each other.”
During town hall, Perrette expressed some frustration with CNN’s “previous leadership,” which was led by Jeff Zucker through February, and WarnerMedia, which was led by Jason Kilar through early April.
“Some of that was avoidable,” he said, but “former leadership has decided to just move on, despite the upcoming merger, with CNN+ scheduled to launch in March,” he said.
The streaming service eventually launched just two weeks before the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger was complete, much to the chagrin of Discovery executives, who pursued a different strategy but couldn’t legally communicate with CNN executives until the deal was official.
Warner Bros. Discovery has billions of dollars in debt, much of which stems from the company’s merger, and executives are under pressure to come up with the $3 billion in savings that Wall Street expects of them.
Andrew Morse, executive vice president of CNN+ and all of CNN’s digital businesses, who has worked closely with Kilar and Zucker, will leave the company after a transition period.
In a note to employees, Morse described his nine years at CNN as an “incredible ride,” saying, “As the company enters an exciting period of change, it is clear that the new leadership’s vision for the future is different than ours had. That’s fine. It’s all part of the change. “
Licht said at City Hall he wanted Morse to stay but respected the decision.
Alex MacCallum, CNN+’s head of product and general manager, will lead CNN Digital and work with Licht “to define a future leadership strategy,” the company said in a press release.
On Thursday afternoon, CNN+ staffers housed on the 16th floor of Hudson Yards, the network’s New York headquarters, broke out whiskey and wine to show their sympathy.
The decision to shut down CNN+ just weeks after its launch marked a stunning end for the streaming news service. Executives had touted the application as the most significant launch since Ted Turner founded CNN in 1980.
CNN had poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the new streaming app, attracting top talent from other networks, including NBC’s Kasie Hunt and Fox News’ Chris Wallace.
The streaming service offered hours of daily live programming and weekly shows.
This program will continue to stream until the end of the month.