CNN Chairman and CEO Chris Licht is out

Chris Licht, the embattled chief executive and chairman of CNN, whose brief one-year tenure at the network was stained by a series of severe missteps, will depart the company.

“I met with Chris and he will be leaving CNN,” David Zaslav, the chief executive of parent company Warner Bros. Discovery, told CNN employees at the start of the network’s daily editorial call Wednesday.

Licht’s departure, which came days after a devastating 15,000-word profile in The Atlantic, capped a tumultuous year for CNN, marked by layoffs, historically low ratings, and rock-bottom employee morale.

In the wake of The Atlantic article, Licht apologized to staffers Monday, telling the global news organization in a somber tone that he did not recognize himself when reading portions of the story and that he was sorry for having distracted from the newsroom’s work.

Licht, who described the experience as “tremendously humbling,” vowed to “fight like hell” to win over the trust of employees.