CNN to cut 100 jobs and switch to paywall for website
Al Jazeera
Media organisations including CNN have struggled to grow audiences and revenue and are trying new offerings.
CNN is eliminating approximately 100 jobs and plans to debut its first digital subscriptions before the end of the year as the news network leans into reshaping its business.
In a memo sent to staff on Wednesday, CNN CEO Mark Thompson noted the news organisation was cutting just 100 jobs out of a total workforce of approximately 3,500. He said that open roles were closed wherever possible in order to minimise the total layoffs.
Media organisations, including CNN, have struggled to grow audiences and revenue, and have sought to diversify what they offer to customers.
Thompson said that CNN’s digital strategy must be “ambitious enough to deliver the audiences and the revenue we need to maintain our unique journalistic firepower and succeed as a business”.
The executive said CNN will create subscription-ready products that offer news, analysis and context in new formats. He emphasised that there will be an effort to keep users on CNN.com’s website longer and find ways to get them to return more often.
