Representatives for former CNN CEO Jeff Zucker are rejecting reports that he sought to persuade several high-profile billionaires to acquire the troubled news network, as first reported by Variety.
According to the story, Zucker allegedly approached people including Roman Abramovich, Laurene Powell Jobs, Jeff Bezos, and Alex Soros to raise money for a deal to take CNN private. The magazine also claims that an August 7 letter from Allied Turkish Bank IBU Northern Cyprus to international law firm Clifford Chance’s headquarters in Istanbul highlighted Zucker’s interest in acquiring the trouble news network. According to the magazine, Zucker also tried to get Mario Ferreira, the media tycoon who controls CNN Portugal, to become an investor.
However, a spokeswoman for Zucker vehemently refuted the allegation, saying that no conversations or talks regarding acquiring CNN had ever taken place. “Any allegation or insinuation that Jeff has made any effort to purchase CNN is unequivocally false,” a spokesperson for Zucker told The Post. “He has never had any meeting or conversation about buying CNN with anyone.”
Zucker’s officials also refuted another allegation made by Variety, namely that his private equity business, RedBird, intended to buy CNN through a deal facilitated by Pandion Partners.
Variety has supported the report’s author, Tatiana Siegel, calling her “one of the best journalists in the business.”
Zucker was sacked from the network in 2021, owing to an unreported relationship with a former CNN executive.
