CNN Reportedly Suspends Marketing Spending for CNN+, Lays Off Chief Financial Officer

CNN reportedly has suspended marketing spending for its new streaming service CNN+ and laid off its chief financial officer.

According to a report in Axios on Tuesday, CNN CFO Brad Ferrer has been succeeded by Neil Chugani, Discovery’s current CFO for streaming and international, as part of what Axios terms “a broader finance team restructuring.”

Discovery merged with WarnerMedia, which owns CNN, earlier this month.

“Inside CNN, executives think the launch has been successful. Discovery executives disagree,” according to the report, written by media reporter Sara Fischer, who noted that “CNN+ has roughly 150,000 subscribers so far.”

Additionally, the 9 p.m. slot on CNN – which was helmed by Chris Cuomo until he was fired in December for advising his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo navigate sexual misconduct allegations – might be a newscast as opposed to an opinion show, according to Fischer, citing “sources.”

Regarding CNN+, the streaming service was projected “to become profitable in four years by investing $1 billion into the service,” according to Axios.

Despite CNN+ now being available on Roku, “with marketing around the service suspended, there are concerns that growth will be short-lived,” wrote Fischer.

Finally, Fischer blamed “bad timing, limited communications and misaligned incentives for how CNN and Discovery got strategically misaligned on such a massive product rollout.”

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