CNN boss Mark Thompson has quietly anointed a top lieutenant as his likely successor.
Alex MacCallum, CNN’s digital chief who worked under Thompson when he ran The New York Times Company, has been tapped as the left-leaning cable network’s new chief operating officer.
Thompson circulated a memo to staffers announcing the move earlier this week, according to the Status newsletter.
The move is likely a blow to other top brass — including executive editor Virginia Moseley, who had long been seen internally as a leading contender for the top job, Status reported.
In January 2024, The Post reported that rank-and-file staffers at CNN were unhappy that Moseley was elevated by Thompson to serve as executive editor.
“‘Tyrant’ is the word that you hear used the most to describe her,” a source told The Post at the time.
“She has reduced reporters and producers to tears. She fires before she aims.”
The shake-up comes at a critical moment for CNN as it grapples with declining cable revenues and seeks to reinvent itself as a subscription-driven digital news operation — and as staff ready for Paramount Skydance to buy the news org’s parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.
Thompson has been overhauling CNN with an “audience-first” push into digital subscriptions and streaming — a strategy that has included layoffs, restructuring and a renewed direct-to-consumer push.
MacCallum has been at the center of that effort, overseeing CNN’s digital products and helping launch its subscription and streaming businesses.
She was initially hired by then-CNN President Jeff Zucker to help build CNN+, the network’s short-lived and ill-fated streaming service.
MacCallum later returned under Thompson to lead its digital push.
In his memo, Thompson praised her “impressive set of critical accomplishments,” crediting her with building a “world-class digital operation” and launching CNN’s direct-to-consumer subscription business.
“In a remarkable two-year run back at CNN, Alex has already achieved an impressive set of critical accomplishments in record time,” Thompson wrote in the memo circulated to staffers on Wednesday.
“On top of building a world-class digital operation and transforming our core products, she’s led and launched a direct-to-consumer sub business, assembled a set of outstanding leaders in audience, data, product and tech, engagement and monetization, and has built excellent collaborative working relationships with all of CNN’s other top leaders.”
The C-suite drama unfolds against a backdrop of uncertainty over the network’s future ownership and the possible implications for Thompson’s tenure.
In February, Paramount Skydance agreed to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in a deal valued at about $31 per share, or roughly $110 billion, bringing major assets including CNN, HBO and the Warner Bros. studio under the control of Paramount CEO David Ellison.
The proposed deal has rattled CNN’s newsroom, with staffers raising concerns about editorial independence and the network’s fate under new ownership.
Thompson has sought to reassure journalists in recent meetings, telling staff he remains committed to CNN and intends to stay on as the company navigates the transition to new ownership, which still needs regulatory approval.
But unease persists internally, fueled by Paramount’s recent moves at CBS News — including layoffs and leadership changes — as well as broader questions about how a combined media empire under Ellison would reshape CNN.
A CNN spokesperson declined to comment.
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