Ken Jautz, CNN Executive Who Helped News Giant Run, to Exit

Ken Jautz, a key senior CNN executive who played a critical role in both making the news giant run properly and developing some of its best known personalities, will leave the Warner Bros, Discovery operation by year’s end.

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“After 36 years with the company, Ken has decided he is ready for a new chapter,” said Mark Thompson, chairman and CEO of CNN, in a memo sent to staffers Wednesday. He added: “It is difficult to capture the impact Ken has had on our brand.”

Indeed, Jautz, who in his time oversaw the cable network HLN before taking on a key role running CNN’s technology and facilities, during his tenure influenced CNN’s international operations; its infrastructure; and its role in popular culture. Without Jautz, CNN might have had to go off the air during the coronavirus pandemic, and without Jautz, figures such as Nancy Grace and Robin Meade would not have enjoyed widespread national appeal.

When Jeff Zucker left abruptly as CEO of CNN in 2022, Jautz served as a temporary co-CEO of the CNN business.

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Jautz was an overseas bureau chief for the Associated Press in the 1990s when he first joined the operations of CNN parent Turner. By 1995, he was managing European TV networks. Starting in 2001, he managed CNN’s business news unit, a task that entailed running CNNfn, a bid to compete with CNBC, and helped launch the CNNMoney website, a digital property that became the center of CNN’s digital operations, while having responsibility for all business programming across CNN –which at one time included a popular program anchored by Lou Dobbs.

In 2000, Jautz worked to overhaul the network formerly known as CNN Headline News and created a host of new shows that cumulatively posted record ratings for the network, including Morning Express with Robin Meade, Nancy Grace, Showbiz Tonight and Joy Behar. As the migration of consumers to streaming began to undermine that network’s viability in the marketplace, Jautz steered it toward true-crime programming that might prove attractive as a stand-alone genre and could be utilized on broadband hubs as well.

He leaves as CNN is trying to chart another chapter, one that will use its digital site, CNN.com, as a potential hub for content that will spur users to pay a subscription fee.

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