Billionaire John Catsimatidis teased that he goals to purchase CNN from its corporate parent, Warner Bros. Discovery — and told The Post he’d “go run the place tomorrow morning and all I’d want is $1 per yr.”
The Latest York supermarket mogul first said he’d bid on the beleaguered network during a Thursday morning appearance on 77 WABC’s “Sid & Friends within the Morning.”
In a subsequent interview with The Post, nevertheless, 74-year-old Catsimatidis was stingy on details, including how much he’d be willing to pony up.
“It’s as much as the investment bankers to provide you with the numbers,” Catsimatidis said, although he also signaled that he didn’t consider financing a bid could be an issue.
“We could at all times bring partners in, but I would like to run the place,” he said. “We’re able to putting down a considerable sum of money.”
“I’d go run the place tomorrow morning, and all I’d want is $1 per yr and a chunk of the upside,” Catsimatidis said, claiming he could “double the profits” in a brief period of time.
Catsimatidis, who boasts a net value of $4.1 billion, pointed to 77 WABC doping up to No. 1 in Nielsen’s rated talk radio rankings under his rule as proof that he could bolster CNN’s rank. (77 WABC took first place in October 2021, but sits within the No. 11 spot as of April.)
Billionaire mogul John Catsimatidis has teased that he’ll buy CNN, and might put down “a considerable sum of money.” Under his rule, he wants the network to stay bipartisan and appear in “every airport [and] every country on the earth.”Christopher Sadowski
“Whoever is running that company is unsuitable,” Catsimatidis said, citing CEO Chris Licht’s resignation as a poor move considering the embattled leader helmed the presidential town hall with Donald Trump, which brought in additional viewers than the network had seen in greater than two years.
“If the network is getting half-a-million [viewers] an evening they usually have Trump on they usually get 3 million [viewers], to fireplace the CEO for getting that many individuals…” Catsimatidis said before trailing off.
Catsimatidis also assured in an interview with The Post that under him, CNN could be nothing prefer it was under Jeff Zucker, who was very publicly anti-Trump and was booted out of the network in early 2022 for failing to reveal his relationship with a subordinate.
He said that if he were to take over, CNN would proceed to make moves towards becoming more bipartisan, because it did under Licht.
“I would like the reality, not opinions,” Catsimatidis emphasized. “If people say there’s two truths, let’s voice each truths and let the viewers resolve.”
Catsimatidis suggested CNN has fallen wanting its founder Ted Turner’s vision under Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav.Getty Images for Air Mail LLC.
The acquisition would add cable television to Catsimatidis’ portfolio, which consists of Manhattan grocery chain Gristedes, real estate and aviation company Red Apple Group and 77 WABC radio, which the mogul bought in a $12.5 million money deal in 2019.
Catsimatidis said “CNN deserves to be No. 1 on the earth at once,” and said “Ted Turner created a beautiful network” that he suggested has fallen wanting its founder’s vision under Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav.
And though Licht’s moves to just do that rendered him jobless, Catsimatidis believes he could more successfully “fix” CNN while maintaining a neutral political stance.
“He at the very least tried to do the proper thing,” Catsimatidis added of Licht, who resigned from the network after a tumultuous 13-month stint on Wednesday during which he fired several distinguished on-air personalities, green-lighted the train-wreck town hall with Trump and saw CNN’s highly publicized streaming service snuffed out.
Catsimatidis told The Post he believes his “popularity alone” could “fix” CNN.ERIK S LESSER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Licht’s shoddy moves as head honcho were detailed in a damning report in The Atlantic, which was ultimately the nail in his coffin.
“Unfortunately, things didn’t work out the best way we had hoped — and ultimately that’s on me,” Zaslav said while addressing CNN staffers during a morning editorial meeting on Wednesday.
“We’re within the means of conducting a large search, internally and externally, for a recent leader,” Zaslav added.
Through the interim, three CNN executives — talent boss Amy Entelis, editorial head Virginia Moseley and programming chief Eric Sherling — will form an “acting leadership team” while Zaslav takes his time filling the chief executive role.