Jeff Zucker has signed a contract extension keeping him atop CNN through the 2020 election, Vanity Fair reports.
Zucker, who joined CNN in January 2013, signed his new deal “several months ago” VF reports, which means CNN’s soon-to-be new owner, AT&T, was keen on keeping him at the news network.
CNN, like Fox News and MSNBC, have seen ratings rise with President Donald Trump in office. That’s despite, or perhaps because, Trump thoroughly despises CNN and MSNBC. Just this morning he tweeted:
So funny to watch the Fake News, especially NBC and CNN. They are fighting hard to downplay the deal with North Korea. 500 days ago they would have “begged” for this deal-looked like war would break out. Our Country’s biggest enemy is the Fake News so easily promulgated by fools!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 13, 2018
Before he was elected, Trump opposed AT&T’s planned acquisition of CNN’s parent company Time Warner. He called the deal “too much concentration of power in the hands of too few.” After he was elected, Trump’s Justice Department sued to block the merger. A federal judge ruled Tuesday the deal could go forward with no conditions, meaning it could close as soon as next week, with at least one Time Warner executive, Zucker, staying put.