Barry Diller’s Interest in Buying CNN: Concerns About Its Future
Barry Diller has expressed interest in acquiring CNN, emphasizing the urgency of the situation for the news organization’s future. During his appearance at The Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything Festival, Diller made clear his openness to the idea.
“Absolutely, I would do it tonight and tomorrow night,” Diller stated, as reported by TWSJ. “Before they ruin it any further. Hopefully, before it’s extinct, which, I mean, it’s not gonna be.”
Diller noted that CNN is “so ripe” for innovation and acknowledged the organization’s efforts to transition into a digital platform. However, he believes that additional investment is necessary for improving on-air programming.
“So how they do that and navigate also running the surviving businesses…I don’t know,” he remarked.
Currently, CNN is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, with plans for a merger involving Paramount in an $81 billion deal. Diller foresees that if this merger proceeds, the resulting job cuts could be a “savage process.”
Diller’s familiarity with restructuring and layoffs comes from his own company, Interactive Corp. (IAC), which is in the process of rebranding as People Inc. while implementing significant layoffs.
In a memo to staff dated April 28, Diller stated, “We’re transitioning the necessary staff of IAC into the corpus of People. That will significantly reduce our overhead.”
The layoffs are predicted to impact several dozen corporate staffers, resulting in an estimated annual cost savings of $40 million.
In his memo, Diller expressed his intentions moving forward: “I plan to continue to do what I have done here for years as Chairman and Senior Executive—be an advisor, instigator, stimulus, and sometimes irritant to the process. I will also continue to oversee our MGM investment.”
