Executive producer Chris Licht of the television show Our Cartoon President speaks onstage during the CBS/Showtime portion of the 2018 Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour at The Langham Huntington, Pasadena on January 6, 2018 in Pasadena, California.
Chris Licht wasn't supposed to start his new job as CNN's chief until May.
But on Thursday he found himself addressing about 400 full-time CNN+ staffers, some in person and some through a remote video feed. Hundreds of other CNN employees had gotten hold of the remote link, which was passed around from person to person, to hear what their new boss had to say.
The purpose of Licht's introductory speech to many employees wasn't what he'd expected when he agreed to take over for Jeff Zucker earlier this year. Licht told employees the project they'd been working on for the past six to nine months, the subscription streaming service CNN+, was ending April 30, about a month after its launch. He acknowledged that many would lose their jobs.
Licht, who officially starts May 2, quit his job as the executive producer of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” to run CNN. On Thursday, he came across as passionate and empathetic, according to people who listened to him speak.
For some CNN+ employees, it was the first time they'd heard from Licht. But, awkwardly, for scores of others, it wasn't โ they had met Licht just two days earlier, when he toured…