Jeff Zucker | |
|---|---|
 Zucker at the 2010Tribeca Film Festival | |
| Born | Jeffrey Adam Zucker (1965-04-09)April 9, 1965 (age 59) Homestead, Florida, U.S. |
| Education | Harvard University (AB) |
| Occupation | CEO of RedBird IMI |
| Years active | 1986–present |
| Employer | RedBird Capital Partners |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4 |
Jeffrey Adam Zucker[1] (born April 9, 1965)[2] is an American businessman and media executive. Zucker was the president of CNN Worldwide from 2013 to 2022.[3] He oversawCNN,CNN International,HLN, and CNN Digital.[4][5] He was previously CEO ofNBCUniversal.[6]
Jeffrey Adam Zucker was born on April 9, 1965, into aJewish family[7][8] inHomestead, Florida, near Miami, on April 9, 1965.[9] His father, Matthew Zucker, was a cardiologist, and his mother, Arline, was a school teacher.[1]
He was a captain of theNorth Miami Senior High School tennis team,[9] editor of the school paper, and a teenage freelance reporter ("stringer") forThe Miami Herald.[10] Zucker also was president of his sophomore, junior, and senior classes,[11] running on the slogan "The little man with the big ideas."[12] He graduated from North Miami Senior High School in 1982.[9] Before college, he took part inNorthwestern University's National High School Institute program for journalism.[10] Zucker went on toHarvard University. He was president of the school newspaper,The Harvard Crimson, during his senior year. As such, he encouraged theCrimson's decades-old prank rivalry with theHarvard Lampoon, then headed by future NBC employeeConan O'Brien, which culminated in Zucker having O’Brien arrested.[13] Zucker graduated from Harvard in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts inAmerican history.[14]
When he was not admitted toHarvard Law School, he began working at NBC by accepting an internship at the1988 Summer Olympics.[15]
In 1989, he was a field producer forToday, and at 26 he became its executive producer in 1992.[16] He introduced the program's trademark outdoorrock concert series and was in charge asToday moved to the "window on the world" Studio 1A inRockefeller Plaza in 1994. He is credited with managing the show during its most successful years and launching it into its 16 years of ratings dominance.[17]
In 2000, he was named NBC Entertainment's president.[18] A 2004 BusinessWeek Profile stated that "During that time he oversaw NBC's entire entertainment schedule. He kept the network ahead of the pack by airing thegross out showFear Factor, negotiating for the cast of the hit seriesFriends to take the series up to a tenth season, and signingDonald Trump for the reality showThe Apprentice. He is credited with the idea to extendFriends episodes by 10 minutes and convinced the cast to extend their contracts by two years. TheFriends era was one of the most profitable ever for NBC.[19] The Zucker era produced a spike in operating earnings for NBC, from $532 million the year he took over to $870 million in 2003."[12]
Zucker introducedLas Vegas,Law & Order: Criminal Intent, andScrubs. He originated the idea of airing "Supersized" (longer than the standard 30-minute slot) episodes of NBC's comedies and aggressively programming in the summer months as cable networks began to draw away viewers with original programming from the network's rerun-filled summer slate.Bravo changed its programming direction towards reality television, while the newly acquired Spanish networkTelemundo was positioned to be more competitive with leading networkUnivision.
In December 2003, Zucker became president of NBC's Entertainment, News & Cable Group as well.
Following the merger with French media empireVivendi Universal, he became president of the newly formed NBC Universal Television Group in May 2004. Vivendi Universal had acquiredFox Interactive a year earlier in 2003. During Zucker's tenure, shows that he championed such asFather of the Pride and theFriends spinoffJoey were considered failures.[20]
On December 15, 2005, Zucker was promoted by NBC Universal to Chief Executive Officer of NBC Universal Television Group behindRobert Charles Wright, vice chairman ofGeneral Electric and chairman & CEO of NBC Universal.[21] Zucker was responsible for all programming across the company's television properties, including network, news, cable, sports and Olympics. His responsibilities also included the company's studio operations and global distribution efforts.
On February 6, 2007, Zucker became president and CEO of NBC Universal.
In 2010, in response toa public controversy over the network's reported rescheduling of late-night hostsJay Leno andConan O'Brien,Los Angeles Times reporters Meg James and Matea Gold wrote that Zucker's tenure had led to "a spectacular fall by the country's premier television network" and dubbed the intra-network feud and subsequent public relations fallout "one of the biggest debacles in television history".[22] Under Zucker NBC fell from being the number one rated network to the lowest rated of the four broadcast networks and was occasionally being beaten in the ratings by programming on some of the more popular cable channels.
Days later,The New York Times columnistMaureen Dowd wrote that in Hollywood "there has been a single topic of discussion: How does Jeff Zucker keep rising and rising while the fortunes of NBC keep falling and falling? ...many in the Hollywood community have always regarded him as ...a network Napoleon who never bothered to learn about developing shows and managing talent." She explained that Zucker "is a master at managing up with bosses and calculating cost-per-hour benefits, but even though he made money on cable shows, he could not program the network to save his life."[23]
Dowd also reported that an unnamed "honcho at another network" stated that "Zucker is a case study in the most destructive media executive ever to exist... You'd have to tell me who else has taken a once-great network and literally destroyed it."[23]
On June 2, 2010, theNew York Post reported that Zucker would be paid between $30 million and $40 million to leave NBC Universal shortly afterComcast completed its 51% acquisition in the company.[24]
Zucker worked with fellow NBC News alum, formerToday hostKatie Couric, producing her daytime talk show forDisney-ABC Domestic Television,Katie.[25][26] However, Zucker left the show to be the president ofCNN Worldwide.[27]
Zucker became president ofCNN Worldwide on January 1, 2013. His appointment was widely welcomed by the network and its anchors.Anderson Cooper told colleagues that Zucker was "the first CNN president to actually watch CNN".[28] In December 2013, Zucker stated that his goal for the channel was to offer an "attitude and a take" to viewers, with a larger focus on reality-style documentary series (expanding upon the success of its documentary acquisitionBlackfish, and new seriesAnthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown). Zucker explained that he wanted CNN to appeal more to regular viewers of factual networks (such asA&E,Discovery, andHistory), and make larger investments into the network's digital properties.[29][30]
With the 2014 cancellation ofPiers Morgan Live, CNN experimented with airing factual programming in primetime as an alternative, with Zucker stating that it would cater to younger demographics than pundit-oriented programs. However, Zucker still insisted that news remained CNN's first priority, and that these programs could be preempted for continuing coverage of breaking news events when needed.[31][32] 2014 saw an increase in daytime and primetime viewership of CNN; by October 2014, CNN had overtakenMSNBC in primetimekey demographic viewership, placing second behindFox News.[33][34][35][36]
During the2016 presidential election campaign, a large focus was placed upon on-air debates between partisan pundits surrounding issues relating to the candidates (including, in particular, Republican candidateDonald Trump). In an interview withThe New York Times, Zucker stated that aspects of its election coverage were influenced by sports channels (with theTimes citing, specifically, debates between pundits reminiscent of shows such asESPN'sFirst Take, and large outdoor"pre-game" shows for the presidential debates), explaining that "the idea that politics is sport is undeniable, and we understood that and approached it that way."[37] In 2016, CNN reached a monthly average of 105 million unique visitors to its web and mobile properties.[38]
Leaked secret recordings of conversations between Zucker and Trump's lawyerMichael Cohen made in March 2016 show that Zucker wanted to do a weekly show with Trump and offered debate advice to Trump.[39][40]
On February 2, 2021, Zucker announced he would step down at the end of the year.[41] In August 2021, however, it was reported that he did not plan to leave until the completion of the merger ofWarnerMedia andDiscovery, Inc.[42]
In March 2019, CNN parentWarnerMedia announced a reorganization in which Zucker would become chairman of the company's news and sports division, overseeingTurner Sports,Bleacher Report andAT&T SportsNet, in addition to maintaining his role as head of CNN.[43]
On February 2, 2022, Zucker resigned from CNN. In his resignation letter, Zucker acknowledged that he did not disclose aconsensual relationship he had with CNN's Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer,Allison Gollust, when it began.[44][45] The relationship was made public in early January 2022 during the network's investigation intoChris Cuomo.[46][47] Following his resignation from CNN, Zucker also resigned from his position as chief of WarnerMedia News & Sports.[48]
In December 2022, Zucker was named an executive with Redbird IMI, a consortium with majority funding from SheikhMansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice President of the UAE.[49] The consortium is a joint venture between Gerry Cardinale'sRedBird Capital Partners andInternational Media Investments, a media investment fund backed by theUnited Arab Emirates.[50] The position also includes an active role in theXFL, a professional football league partially owned by RedBird.[51]
The consortium's planned purchase ofTheTelegraph, a prominent British newspaper, has caused controversy in the United Kingdom, as concerns were raised that the newspaper would be coming under the control of an autocratic state.[49][52]
In April 2024, RedBird confirmed it would withdraw its takeover plans, stating they were "no longer feasible".[53]
In 1996, Zucker married Caryn Stephanie Nathanson, then a supervisor forSaturday Night Live,[1] with whom he has four children; the two divorced in 2017.[54][55]
Diagnosed in 1996 and 1999 withcolon cancer, Zucker successfully underwent surgery twice andchemotherapy after the first surgery.[12][56] In July 2018, Zucker took a six-week leave of absence from CNN to recover from heart surgery.[57]
Zucker was an executive in residence atColumbia Business School.[58]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)"As part of the investigation into Chris Cuomo's tenure at CNN, I was asked about a consensual relationship with my closest colleague, someone I have worked with for more than 20 years," Mr. Zucker wrote. "I acknowledged the relationship evolved in recent years. I was required to disclose it when it began but I didn't. I was wrong. As a result, I am resigning today," he wrote. Mr. Zucker was referring to Allison Gollust, CNN's executive vice president and chief marketing officer and one of the highest-ranking leaders of the network, who is closely involved in major business and communications decisions.
It also calls into question the hypocrisy of Zucker and Gollust who initially stood by Cuomo when it emerged he rushed to the aid of his embattled brother, the former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo
| Business positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | President of NBC Entertainment 2000–2004 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by position created | President of NBC Universal Television Group 2004–2007 | Succeeded by position eliminated[1][better source needed] |
| Preceded by | CEO of NBC 2007–2011 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President of CNN Worldwide 2013–2022 | Succeeded by |
