CNN anchor Chris Wallace was reportedly told his two poorly rated shows would be canceled and his massive pay cut before the veteran journalist announced he was leaving the network.
Wallace, who was being paid $7 million a year, was informed he was welcome to stay on as an analyst, but at a much lower salary as part of CEO Mark Thompson’s major cost-cutting initiatives, according to Puck News .
Instead, Wallace announced earlier this week that he was leaving CNN and positioned the move in a Daily Beast interview as a pivot to podcasting and streaming — because “that’s where the action seems to be,” he said.
Wallace insisted he was not engaged in any discussions with CNN about a future role, claiming he made the decision to leave before any discussions took place.
“It doesn’t matter what was said or not said in that meeting, because I had already decided with my wife six months ago to leave CNN,” Wallace told Puck News on Thursday. “Any further speculation is irrelevant.”
Wallace, who spent three years at CNN and 18 years at Fox News, said in his exit interview with The Beast that he was “thrilled” to be “between jobs.”
“This is the first time in 55 years that I am in the middle of work. I’m actually excited and relieved by it,” he said. “Not knowing is part of the challenge. I am waiting to see what will come over the cross. It might be something I haven’t thought of at all.”
CNN hired Wallace in 2021 to be one of its big stars to run its new broadcast service, CNN+.
But once Discovery merged with CNN parent Warner Media to form Warner Bros. Discovery, new management jettisoned expensive CNN+ and hundreds of employees.
Wallace stayed and started his own shows, “Who’s Talking with Chris Wallace,” a weekly interview series that was originally supposed to air on CNN+ but now airs on Max, and the Saturday morning panel discussion program, ” The Chris Wallace Show”.
Both programs suffered poor ratings — and there was much rumbling among industry sources for some time that the anchor would not get another lucrative contract — especially as CNN was grappling with its own dire ratings and overhaul under Thompson.
Earlier this week, it was reported that CNN suffered its worst ratings in a key demographic in a quarter century in the week following a presidential election.
That averaged 61,000 viewers ages 25 to 54 tuned in Tuesday, a week after the vote, making it the smallest audience in that demo since June 27, 2000, when Bill Clinton was in The White House.
Primetime coverage — between 8:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. — also saw ratings decline by an average of 483,000 since Election Day.
Fox News reached 3.4 million, according to the network.
Meanwhile, in its most recent broadcast, “The Chris Wallace Show” drew 450,000 viewers and just 85,000 in the advertiser-coveted 25-to-54 demo, according to Puck.
The ratings certainly didn’t justify Wallace’s princely salary at a network that is slated to cut hundreds of jobs in the coming months.
CNN’s top executives are also taking a scalpel for the salaries of its biggest names.
The network recently denied raises to Jake Tapper, who earns a reported $7 million, and to Wolf Blitzer, who is believed to be earning close to $3 million.
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