An intervention from the largest shareholder in Discovery, Inc. was the final straw in the ousting of CNN‘s president Jeff Zucker over his affair with a colleague, a report has claimed.
Billionaire John Malone, who has made no secret of his dislike of CNN under Zucker’s leadership, is said to have made it clear corporate policies must be followed after it was revealed the executive had not disclosed his relationship with Allison Gollust.
Malone, 80, is worth an estimated $7.8 billion and is believed to be the largest landowner in the United States – possessing more than 2.2 million acres, an area that is over twice the size of Rhode Island.
Among his many business interests, Malone is the chairman of Liberty Media Corporation, which holds the largest stake in Discovery, Inc. He also sits on the board of Discovery, which is currently undergoing a merger with WarnerMedia, the umbrella company which owns CNN Worldwide.
According to Deadline, it was Malone who made it clear WarnerMedia and CNN that Zucker must go after the 56-year-old’s relationship with Allison Gollust, 49, came to light.
Billionaire John Malone, who has made no secret of his dislike of CNN under Zucker’s leadership, is said to have made it clear corporate policies must be followed after it was revealed CNN’s president Jeff Zucker had not disclosed a workplace relationship
Jeff Zucker (left) stepped down on Wednesday, admitting he was ‘wrong’ not to have told the company about the relationship with Allison Gollust (right)
‘Discovery’s largest shareholder, John Malone, a critic of CNN, made it known that corporate procedures had to be followed to the letter in regards to Zucker, we hear,’ Deadline reported on Wednesday.
‘Being that WarnerMedia’s standards of business conduct require disclosure of relationships that develop with a boss and subordinate, Zucker’s goose was officially cooked,’ the report added.
Zucker and Allison Gollust had worked together for 20 years.
The pair claim their relationship turned romantic during the pandemic but others say it far predates COVID, and was common knowledge for as many as eight years.
Zucker stepped down on Wednesday, admitting he was ‘wrong’ not to have told the company about the relationship.
For legal reasons, Discovery must avoid getting involved with WarnerMedia until the deal has been approved by the U.S. government.
However, in November last year after news of the impending merger was announced, Malone made it clear that he was not a fan of the direction CNN had gone in under Zucker, who took the helm in 2013.
‘I would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing,’ he told CNBC.
‘I do believe good journalism could have a role in this future portfolio that Discovery-TimeWarner’s going to represent.’
However, he also said at this stage, he was not thinking about offloading CNN. ‘A coward’s way out would be to sell [CNN] or spin it off and then sell it,’ he said.
In the past, Malone’s political beliefs have been described as libertarian.
He is also reported to have donated $250,000 to former president Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2017 – with a college, Liberty Media, and Liberty Interactive each matching that donation – bringing the total to $1 million.
In 2019 however, Malone hinted that he didn’t think that Trump was the right person to continue in the White House after 2020, telling CNBC in 2019 that Trump cased ‘chaos’.
Instead, he indicated would vote for Michael Bloomberg in the up-coming presidential election.
Trump himself has consistently been a staunch critic of CNN since when he first ran for president, during his time in the White House, and thereafter.
AT&T bought WarnerMedia (formerly Time Warner) in 2018 for $84billion. It was a disastrous deal that the telecoms giant has been trying to unwind for years. It, finally, is now in the finalizing stage of a $43billion sale of WarnerMedia to Discovery.
According to Puck media reporter Dylan Byers, Zucker and Gollust were due to take on senior roles within the new company, under the leadership of Discovery CEO David Zaslav.
But speculation has been growing over whether Zucker was forced out at CNN over his open-secret affair not because bosses had any real issue with it, but because the scandal of it and his ongoing war with Chris Cuomo could have threatened AT&T’s deal with Discovery.
It has since emerged that Chris Cuomo, who was fired in December for inappropriately consulting his brother about sexual harassment claims, was the one who raised the affair to executives.
Byers writes that it is likely AT&T boss John Stankey insisted on Zucker’s departure after learning of it. By getting rid of Cuomo, too, AT&T does not have to pay Chris Cuomo the $18million he claims he is entitled to.
‘No matter what he thought of Zucker or Kilar, Stankey surely had no appetite for tolerating any scandal that might scuttle the impending WarnerMedia-Discovery deal.
‘And so in the end, now both Kilar and Zucker will soon be in search of new jobs.’
Jeff Zucker was suddenly ousted from CNN yesterday over his affair with colleague Allison Gollust. Staff at CNN are furious at Chris Cuomo for reporting the affair to higher bosses, but are ultimately blaming Jason Kiler, WarnerMedia CEO who overrules, for allowing Cuomo to ‘burn the place down’ by getting rid of their beloved boss
Meanwhile, fired CNN anchor Cuomo, who was hoping to secure the $18million lump sum payout following his departure last year, has been told to set his sights lower, with him unlikely to receive anything more than around $9million from the cable news network.
AT&T, CNN’s parent company, is said to be in negotiations to reach a deal that would see the fired anchor receive half of the $18million he had been vying for before Jeff Zucker’s unexpected resignation Wednesday.
The news of a possible settlement emerged as the CNN employee and lover who led to Zucker’s downfall, Allison Gollust, was seen arriving at her luxury Manhattan apartment late Thursday night looking distinctly sullen.
Gollust’s expression was a far cry from the happy mood she was in last November when she was photographed at a Billy Joel concert with Zucker by her side – and alleged to have forced the powerful media maven to ‘come forward’ and resign ‘not willingly.’
Sources say that Cuomo was planning to come forward with a lawsuit that would have detailed how Zucker and Gov. Andrew Cuomo had a far deeper relationship than had ever previously been explained.
One allegation suggests the disgraced governor received one-to-one media coaching for his popular pandemic press conferences from Zucker and his second-in command, Gollust.
Cuomo may still refuse AT&T’s lowball offer and potentially file his suit, a source told the New York Post. A representative for Cuomo’s attorneys declined to comment.
Allison Gollust, whom CNN President Jeff Zucker was in a relationship with is seen arriving at her Manhattan apartment late on Thursday night
Gollust admitted the pair’s relationship saying it had ‘blossomed’ during the pandemic. CNN insiders said it had been an open secret for eight years
Fired CNN anchor Chris Cuomo is to receive a payout of $9million rather than the $18million he had been hoping for
He was forced out in December after he helped his brother, Andrew, deal with a sex scandal without being fully open as to the lengths he was going to his aid.
Chris was to looking to get paid out for the remainder of his contract, but Zucker was sticking firm and refusing, arguing that he brought the network into disrepute.
However, Zucker’s sudden exit after nine years as CNN’s leader means the goalposts have now shifted once again.
Zucker said he was leaving for violating corporate policy by not disclosing the nature of his relationship with Gollust, but he was reportedly given no choice by WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar, who characterized the change as his decision at a meeting with CNN Washington staff members on Wednesday night.
Zucker appeared to fall on his sword in the hopes of keeping a possible lawsuit by Cuomo from being made public, according to the New York Post.
It has since emerged that Cuomo was the one who raised the affair to executives. Cuomo’s attorneys are said to have told Kilar who then informed AT&T boss John Stankey.
Zucker was said to have been named numerous times in a draft version of the lawsuit that has not yet been filed.
CNN president Jeff Zucker abruptly resigned Wednesday following the Chris Cuomo scandal, which brought to light his relationship with Gollust (pictured right in 2011), although sources at CNN say it was considered an open secret
Zucker and Gollust were seen in public at the Billy Joel concert at Madison Square Garden on November 5, 2021 with Don Lemon (right) and Fareed Zakaria (bottom left). Picture courtesy of fee.org. Tapper alleged the photo forced Zucker to ‘come forward’ and resign ‘not willingly’
Zucker ended up resigning as part of an agreement with AT&T chief John Stankey.
It would mean Zucker would leave CNN without any fight, leaving Stankey to settle with Cuomo, sparing the news organization from any potentially damaging and humiliating allegations.
With Zucker quickly stepping away from network and his powerful media executive role, he also attempted to secure some semblance of privacy for himself.
‘Jeff cut a deal to say ‘I’ll leave, and you [At&T] settle with Cuomo,” one source told The Post.
‘He thought AT&T would fight a lawsuit and it would go public otherwise.’
If Cuomo were to file his lawsuit and AT&T decided to contest it, potentially damaging information about Zucker may have been made public.
Both Gollust and Zucker, left, are said to have coached the 64-year-old former Governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, on how to present his daily Covid briefings during the pandemic. The pair are pictured here in 2008
Zucker’s departure essentially blunts any allegations that Cuomo may have come forward with, or as is preferred by CNN, to be kept from the public altogether.
Zucker and Gollust are said to have also had an ‘ethically dubious’ relationship with the former New York governor.
The pair are said to have coached the 64-year-old governor on how to best present his daily Covid briefings during the pandemic.
The duo are even said to have fed him lines to use when responding to criticism by President Donald Trump in order for it to make for compelling television.
Chris Cuomo refused to leave CNN quietly after being fired for helping quash sex assault allegations against his brother, disgraced ex-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, pictured
CNN still needs to find a replacement for Chis Cuomo in its primetime lineup, and is currently going with a series of substitutes.
Zucker recently approached Gayle King for the job before she decided to re-sign with CBS News.
The television network’s viewership has dropped dramatically in the past year.
News ratings have always been cyclical, and the 2020 election brought record numbers of people in, but there’s always the question of when, or if, they will come back.
CNN is also coming off a contentious period where Trump frequently referred to the network as ‘fake news.’
CNN on-air personnel under Zucker, like chief domestic correspondent and pundit Acosta, have become much more opinionated and that hasn’t always been popular.
‘It’s interesting to see if that culture is going to shift with new leadership,’ said Jennifer Thomas, a Howard University journalism professor who worked at CNN as a producer in the 2000s.
Some people, like Thomas, have called for a reset. One is influential cable executive John Malone, a top stockholder in Discovery, said on CNBC in November ‘I would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with.’
Jeff Zucker stood by under-fire host Chris Cuomo for MONTHS – but ultimately fired him when NY AG revealed the extent to which he helped his brother. So he took the network boss down
Cuomo is pictured with brother Andrew (left), the disgraced former New York governor. The CNN star lied about his role in helping his sibling fend off sex pest claims
Chris Cuomo refused to leave CNN quietly after being fired for helping quash sex assault allegations against his brother, disgraced ex-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo – and he was ‘trying to burn the place down’ when he ousted Jeff Zucker’s secret relationship with a senior network executive.
Cuomo has always maintained that Zucker knew the extent to which he had helped his brother while he was in office, and the network boss ignored calls to fire him for months.
The final straw came after New York AG Letitia James’ office released damning evidence where text messages proved he was more deeply involved than he’d let on. Although he was suspended, he was ultimately fired when a lawyer told CNN he was being investigated for sexually harassing a co-worker years earlier at a different network.
But, according to CNN’s own chief media correspondent Brian Stelter, Cuomo refused to go quietly because his $18 million exit package was on the line.
Cuomo’s legal team ultimately told CNN investigators that it was hypocritical to suggest that the host had a personal conflict of interest while Zucker had failed to disclose his own relationship with comms chief Allison Gollust – even though it was an ‘open secret’ at the company.
Sources told Politco: ‘Cuomo’s legal team asserted that Zucker was hypocritical to suggest Cuomo had a personal conflict of interest when the relationship with Gollust represented a potential conflict as well,’ the outlet reported.
On Wednesday, Stelter said that sources told him that Cuomo was ‘trying to burn the place down’ and had claimed that he had ‘incriminating evidence about Zucker and Gollust.’
‘If that’s the case, this is a domino effect, that begins with Andrew Cuomo going down in the governor’s office, and then Chris Cuomo gets fired from CNN, and then Jeff Zucker losing his job.’
In December, a spokesman for Cuomo accused Zucker of knowing everything about his involvement in trying to help his brother while he navigated a sexual harassment scandal.
‘They were widely known to be extremely close and in regular contact, including about the details of Mr. Cuomo’s support for his brother,’ the spokesman told the Wall Street Journal.
‘There were no secrets about this, as other individuals besides Mr. Cuomo can attest.’
CNN then hit back, saying: ‘He has made a number of accusations that are patently false. This reinforces why he was terminated for violating our standards and practices, as well as his lack of candor.’
And while Cuomo was placed on leave after evidence from James’ office proved just how involved he was in trying to quash his allegations against his brother, he was ultimately fired days later when a lawyer contacted the network with a sexual harassment allegation stemming from his previous job at ABC.
Employment lawyer Debra S. Katz said the allegation against him was made by a former junior colleague at another network, and was unrelated to his brother, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo.
Further details about the allegation were unclear. Cuomo’s spokesman denied the claim, saying: ‘These apparently anonymous allegations are not true.’
CNN’s statement announcing Cuomo’s termination cited only his ‘conduct with his brother’s defense’ in its decision to terminate the anchor.
The popular host’s downfall came when documents revealed how he exchanged dozens of text messages with his brother Andrew’s top aide, Melissa DeRosa.
Cuomo told investigators under oath that they only had ‘irregular contact’.
But the unearthed texts detailed Cuomo’s true role in his brother’s public relations crisis as he told senior members of the governor’s team, ‘we are making mistakes we cant afford.’
In one text, on March 3, he also asked DeRosa to ‘please let me help with prep’.
Cuomo – who earned $6 million annually at CNN, according to Celebrity Net Worth -told investigators that he reached out to a ‘non-journalistic’ source while fishing for information on one of his brother’s accusers.
Though he admitted to researching forthcoming accusers, he vehemently denied to investigators setting out to discredit them.
‘I would never do oppo research on anybody alleging anything like this,’ he told investigators. ‘I’m not in the oppo research business. I don’t tolerate a lot of oppo research on any level.’
When asked to define ‘oppo research’, he said: ‘the idea of trying to find ways to disparage people who come forward with allegations like this is not what I’m about.’
Cuomo’s text exchanges contradict his claims to investigators that he had ‘irregular contact’ with DeRosa. His testimony was subject to the penalty of perjury.
He on March 12 sent her a text, dictating how the governor should respond to calls for his resignation.
‘READ THIS,’ Cuomo said. ‘I will not resign. I cannot resign. I am in a different position and I am working with a different standard than these other politicians I understand why they have to say what they are saying.
‘I understand the political pressure I understand the stakes of political warfare, and that’s what this is… And I understand the conformity that can be forced by cancel culture.’
Discussions centered around Andrew Cuomo stepping down prompted the governor to consider doing so in March, Cuomo said.
‘I told him, ‘If you have done nothing that you believe was wrong, don’t resign,’ Cuomo told investigators. ‘Because resigning is you saying that you did something wrong. Don’t do it.’
