CNN to cut 100 jobs in major overhaul to focus on digital, memo shows

By Yuvraj Malik

(Reuters) - News outlet CNN will cut about 100 jobs as part of a plan to consolidate news operations and bolster its digital business, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

CNN will merge its news-gathering and digital news teams, invest in video operations and launch pay-per-view news products, CNN Worldwide CEO Mark Thompson told staff in the memo.

"We are building a billion dollar+ digital business of the future," he said in the memo.

Thompson, a former New York Times and BBC executive who took over as CNN's CEO in October last year, is trying to streamline the network's operations and grow sales to counter falling TV viewership.

CNN will launch a standalone subscription product for CNN.com by the end of this year, the first in a series of planned subscription offerings, including one that will focus on lifestyle and feature content.

The outlet will create TV Future Lab, a unit to produce content for the Max streaming platform and package CNN's TV content for its digital channels. CNN, which is owned by Warner Bros Discovery, started streaming content on Max last year.

Thompson also detailed several changes to CNN's editorial workflows, including a centralized planning and pitching process and a new "story manager" role to run all aspects of a story from beginning to publication or airing.

The memo said Thompson will discuss the plan with the staff in a town hall meeting on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)