Chris Licht foreshadows CNN layoffs in memo to staff

CNN CEO Chris Licht is preparing his staff for an upcoming reshuffle (read: layoffs).

On Wednesday, Licht sent a memo to employees, warning them of macroeconomic factors impacting his news organization.

"There is widespread concern about the global economic outlook, and we must factor this risk into our long-term planning," Licht wrote. “All of this will mean significant change for this organization. This, by definition, is disruptive. These changes will not be easy as they will affect people, budgets and projects.”

Read Licht's full memo to staff below.

To my colleagues at CNN,

I've spent the past six months meeting so many of you and diving deep into every corner of the business to understand how you do the amazing work CNN produces every day, how we're structured and define our main priorities. As many of you know, I have also spent much of this time doing formal business reviews with senior management to identify areas where we should be making changes, investments and reductions to match our future priorities.

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We have already begun working for the future of CNN, implementing a strategy that prioritizes our journalism and grows our digital stronghold. We have restructured our digital team and are investing heavily in the product. We've combined our linear and digital newsgathering operations to ensure we can bring all of our reporting power to any platform we're on. We're starting to reinvent our morning and primetime lineups, officially launching our new morning show next week. We started to build our long Sunday evening program. We have also begun to reduce or eliminate areas that are not mission critical. All of these measures are designed to keep CNN essential across all platforms to ensure that no matter where and how people get their news, they should have CNN.

There is still a lot to do. I am writing to you today to tell you that over the next few weeks this work will accelerate. There is widespread concern about the global economic outlook and we must take this risk into account in our long-term planning. All of this will mean a noticeable change in this organization. This, by definition, is destabilizing. These changes will not be easy as they will affect people, budgets and projects.

We will be strategic in this process and minimize the impact on our core newsgathering and digital operations, which have already implemented smart changes. Let's be clear: I will not let these changes affect our position as the world's leading source of information, and we will continue to invest in areas of growth. When we conclude this process, CNN will still be the largest and most respected newsgathering organization in the world. We will continue to cover any story, anywhere, anytime, with more resources than anyone else. Full stop.

Our goal is to have most of these decisions made by the end of the year so that we can start 2023 confident and prepared for the future. We'll send updates as I get them, and I plan to hold town halls in November and December.

When we emerge on the other side, CNN will be a stronger, more nimble organization, ready to take on whatever the global economy throws at us and thrive into the future.

Christ

More to come…

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