Following President Trump’s historic landslide victory in the 2024 election, CNN and MSNBC saw its ratings plunge.

Multiple reports now hint at upcoming layoffs at CNN that may impact the network’s high-paid staff. 

Per Mediaite:

Thursday’s total average daily viewers on Fox News came in at 2.6 million and 375,000 in the coveted 25-54 age demographic, according to Nielsen data. Meanwhile, MSNBC brought in only 596,000 total viewers and 71,000 in the demo. CNN brought in 419,000 total viewers on Thursday and 91,000 viewers in the demo.

Fox News was up some 60 percent year over year for the day, while MSNBC and CNN were down 23 and 40 percent – respectively. In prime time the news was even more bleak for CNN and MSNBC as they shed 30 percent and 54 percent of their viewers, respectively, compared to the same day last year. MSNBC host Alex Wagner had her lowest-rated show ever in terms of total viewers, while Chris Hayes’s show brought in its worst numbers since May of 2016.

Puck News suggested CNN C.E.O. Mark Thompson will likely cull “hundreds of jobs” following the election.

“CNN will be firing hundreds of employees including some of their top stars according to Puck News. The news comes as CNN’s Chris Wallace says he is not returning after his contract expires,” Collin Rugg wrote.

“In the next few months, I’m told, CNN will implement another round of layoffs that will impact hundreds of employees across the organization,” reporter Dylan Byers wrote, according to Rugg.

The expected layoffs reportedly may impact on-air talent.

“It’s unclear at the moment who will be axed but stars like like Anderson Cooper make $20 million a year while Kaitlan Collins makes $3 million a year,” Rugg noted.

According to Daily Mail, “senior stars like Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper have both been denied raises.”

It’s unclear which specific employees may be on the chopping block.

Daily Mail reports:

The fresh round of firings, the insiders said, will be more geared toward the production side of things.

As a result, reporters and correspondents will be required to cover their slack, they said – describing how on-air workers will be ‘asked to assume more of the responsibilities once handled by teams of producers and production assistants.’

Byers wrote: ‘Redundant assignments will be nixed, and various divisions will be reduced or even eliminated.

‘Some of the on-air talent are also likely to be affected,’ he went on to reveal.

Sources who spoke to the reporter, who worked at CNN for three years before founding Puck, added how the looming layoffs are part of an overarching plan – one that puts a premium on the station’s digital platforms.

The man behind it, they said, is none other than new CEO Mark Thompson – the former New York Times boss brought in to overhaul the network under its Warner Bros. Discovery parent.

The old BBC boss filled the position left by then-languishing leader Chris Licht this past August, and since then, ratings have fallen more than 20 percent.

 

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