CNN succession drama as CEO Mark Thompson taps heir apparent in major shakeup that leaves top exec out in the cold

CNN boss Mark Thompson has quietly anointed a top lieutenant as his likely successor.Alex MacCallum, CNN’s digital chief who worked under Thompson when he ran The New York Times Company, has been tapped as the left-leaning cable network’s new chief operating officer.Thompson circulated a memo to staffers announcing the move earlier this week, according to the Status newsletter.The move is likely a blow to other top brass — including executive editor Virginia Moseley, who had long been seen internally as a leading contender for the top job, Status reported.A spokesperson for CNN said Moseley has repeatedly told people she is fully committed to her role as executive editor of the global news operation and not interested in another role.In January 2024, The Post reported that rank-and-file staffers at CNN were unhappy that Moseley was elevated by Thompson to serve as executive editor.“‘Tyrant’ is the word that you hear used the most to describe her,” a source told The Post at the time.“She has reduced reporters and producers to tears.

She fires before she aims.”The shake-up comes at a critical moment for CNN as it grapples with declining cable revenues and seeks to reinvent itself as a subscription-driven digital news operation — and as staff ready for Paramount Skydance to buy the news org’s parent company Warner Bros.Discovery.Thompson has been overhauling CNN with an “audience-first” push into digital subscriptions and streaming — a strategy that has included layoffs, restructuring and a renewed direct-to-consumer push.MacCallum has been at the center of that effort, overseeing CNN’s digital products and helping launch its subscription and streaming businesses.She was initially hired by then-CNN President Jeff Zucker to help build CNN+, the network’s short-lived and ill-fated streaming service.MacCallum later returned under Thompson to lead its digital push.In his memo, Thompson praised her “impressive set of critical accomplishme...