CNN is reportedly on pace to miss its profitability target by a substantial margin amid a continued crash in ratings just as the network’s new parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, is planning to enact drastic cuts across its media properties.
The left-wing CNN’s profitability is expected to decline to $956.8 million this year, marking the first time since 2016 that the network had dipped below $1 billion in profit, according to a New York Times report that cited three people familiar with its operations.
The amount falls woefully short of the network’s initial 2022 profitability target of $1.1 billion, two people familiar with CNN’s operations told the newspaper.
In addition, CNN’s ratings continue to sink, dropping to 639,000 people in primetime this quarter, which represents a 27 percent decrease from a year ago. The network continues to place a distant third behind MSNBC and Fox News.
SCOOP — CNN is on pace to dip below $1 billion in profit for the first time since 2016 amid crashing ratings, sources say:https://t.co/10Fw7iofrp
— Ben Mullin (@BenMullin) August 2, 2022
The Times reported CNN has spent millions of dollars covering the war in Ukraine, and is still paying some costs related to the now-defunct CNN+, such as the salaries of Chris Wallace and Audie Cornish.
CNN+ was one of the first casualties of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger. The highly touted but little-watched streaming service lasted a scant month before Discovery executives shut it down in April.
As Breitbart News reported, Warner Bros. Discovery is expected to enact drastic cuts and layoffs across the corporation in the coming weeks as CEO David Zaslav cleans house amid a pledge to find at least $3 billion in savings.
The belt tightening is already being felt at Warner Bros., which recently announced it won’t release its $70 million Batgirl superhero movie. The studio also canceled the TBS show Full Frontal with Samantha Bee — a perennial ratings under-performer whose haranguing host was making increasingly unhinged, radical-left pronouncements, such as calling Ivanka Trump a “cunt” and urging her viewers to harass Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito
Warner Bros. has also seen a number of high profile executive departures, including movie chief Toby Emmerich.
CNN’s new chief Chris Licht told his employees in May that he didn’t expect Warner Bros. Discovery to enact more layoffs at CNN after the shutdown of CNN+.
Follow David Ng on Twitter @HeyItsDavidNg. Have a tip? Contact me at dng@breitbart.com
