New CEO Mark Thompson reportedly might cut Anderson Cooper, Chris Wallace, Wolf Blitzer, and Jake Tapper to save the sinking ship. Cooper makes $20 million a year, Blitzer $15 million, Wallace $8 million, and Tapper $8 million. They’re overpaid if ratings mean anything.
They are all allegedly preparing to go on the chopping block, and Cooper is looking for a job.
“Everybody knows the focus is on cutting costs,” the insider continues. “No one is safe!”
A rep for Tapper said the talk of his ouster is not accurate.
Thompson recently removed hosts Poppy Harlow and Phil Mattingly from CNN This Morning and consolidated all the network’s production offices to Atlanta to save money.
Sources say he has no use for the star system and the hefty salaries that come with it. He’s reportedly seeking to replace marquee names with talent who built their audiences on social media — including former FOX and NBC anchor Megyn Kelly, who has 1.72 million subscribers on YouTube.
CNN’s big show, King Charles, was supposed to save them, but it flopped out of the gate. They spent $300 million on a streaming service called CNN+, which tried to charge people to watch their awful hosts they could see for free. It bombed.
CNN is going down if they follow the old formula.
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