Jeffrey Adam Zucker (born April 9, 1965) is an American former media executive. Between January 2013 and February 2022, Zucker was the president of CNN Worldwide. Zucker oversaw

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

CNN International CNN International (CNNI, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel that is owned by CNN Global. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates with sister network CNN's national and inte ...

, HLN, and CNN Digital. He was previously CEO of

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. NBCUniversal is primaril ...

. Zucker served as an executive in residence at Columbia Business School.

Early life and education

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" By Abigail Pogrebipg. 367, ''Zucker grew up in Miami where he was bar mitzvah and confirmed at Temple Israel - "the most Reform synagogue in South Florida." His family's weekly tradition was Hebrew school and football....He's currently a member of Temple Emanu-El in New York City.'' in Homestead, Florida, near Miami, on April 9, 1965. His father, Matthew Zucker, was a cardiologist, and his mother, Arline, was a school teacher. He was a captain of the

North Miami Senior High School North Miami Senior High School (NMSHS) is a public high school in North Miami, Florida, United States. Located at 13110 NE 8th Avenue, The school opened as Edward L. Constance Junior-Senior High School in 1951; with 1,500 students in 7th, 8th and ...

tennis team, editor of the school paper, and a teenage freelance reporter ("

stringer Stringer may refer to: Structural elements * Stringer (aircraft), or longeron, a strip of wood or metal to which the skin of an aircraft is fastened * Stringer (slag), an inclusion, possibly leading to a defect, in cast metal * Stringer (stairs), ...

") for ''

The Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a city in western Miami-Dade County and the Miami metropolitan area, several miles west of Downtown Miami. Zucker also was president of his sophomore, junior, and senior classes, running on the slogan "The little man with the big ideas." He graduated from North Miami Senior High School in 1982. Before college, he took part in

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

's National High School Institute program for journalism. Zucker went on to

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. He was president of the school newspaper, ''

The Harvard Crimson ''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper of Harvard University and was founded in 1873. Run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates, it served for many years as the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Beginning in the f ...

'', during his senior year. As such, he encouraged the ''Crimsons decades-old prank rivalry with the ''

Harvard Lampoon ''The Harvard Lampoon'' is an undergraduate humor publication founded in 1876 by seven undergraduates at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Overview The ''Harvard Lampoon'' publication was founded in 1876 by seven undergraduates ...

'', then headed by future NBC employee Conan O'Brien, which culminated in Zucker having O’Brien arrested. Zucker graduated from Harvard in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts in

American history The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of Settlement of the Americas, the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Native American cultures in the United States, Numerous indigenous cultures formed ...

Career at NBC and NBCUniversal

Internship

When he was not admitted to Harvard Law School, he began working at NBC by accepting an internship at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

Producer of ''Today Show''

In 1989, he was a field producer for ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...

,'' and at 26 he became its executive producer in 1992. He introduced the program's trademark outdoor

rock concert A rock concert is a performance of rock music. During the 1950s, several American musical groups experimented with new musical forms that fused country music, blues, and swing genre to produce the earliest examples of "rock and roll." The coin ...

series and was in charge as ''Today'' moved to the "window on the world" Studio 1A in

Rockefeller Plaza Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th Street and 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco buildings, commissioned by the Rockefeller family, span th ...

in 1994. He is credited with managing the show during its most successful years and launching it into its 16 years of ratings dominance.

President of NBC Entertainment

In 2000, he was named NBC Entertainment's president. 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 the

gross out Gross out is described as a movement in art (often with comical conotations), which is intended to shock the viewer(s) and disgust the wider audience by presenting them with controversial material (such as toilet humor and fetishes) that might ...

show '' Fear Factor'', negotiating for the cast of the hit series '' Friends'' to take the series up to a tenth season, and signing

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

for the reality show ''

The Apprentice ''The Apprentice'' is a reality talent game show franchise originally aired in 2004 in the United States. Created by U.S.-based British producer Mark Burnett, the show depicts contestants from around the country with various professional backg ...

''. He is credited with the idea to extend ''Friends'' episodes by 10 minutes and convinced the cast to extend their contracts by two years. The ''Friends'' era was one of the most profitable ever for NBC. The Zucker era produced a spike in operating earnings for NBC, from $532 million the year he took over to $870 million in 2003." Zucker introduced ''

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

'', ''

Law & Order: Criminal Intent ''Law & Order: Criminal Intent'' is an American police procedural Drama (film and television), drama television series set in New York City, where it was also primarily produced. Created and Executive producer#Motion pictures and television, p ...

'', and '' Scrubs''. 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 Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels *Bravo (band), a Russian rock band * Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984 *Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing company ...

changed its programming direction towards reality television, while the newly acquired Spanish network

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is owned by Comcast. It provides content nationally with pr ...

was positioned to be more competitive with leading network

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and includes ...

President of NBC Entertainment's News & Cable Group

In December 2003, Zucker became president of NBC's Entertainment, News & Cable Group as well.

President of NBC Universal Television Group

Following the merger with French media empire

Vivendi Universal Vivendi SE is a French mass media holding company headquartered in Paris. Widely known as the owner of Gameloft, Groupe Canal+, Havas, Editis, Prisma Media, Vivendi Village and Dailymotion, the company has activities in television, film, video ...

, he became president of the newly formed NBC Universal Television Group in May 2004. Vivendi Universal had acquired

Fox Interactive Fox Interactive was an American video game publisher based in Los Angeles, California. The company published games based on 20th Century Fox properties, yet also published several original titles, such as '' Croc: Legend of the Gobbos''. History ...

a year earlier in 2003. During Zucker's tenure, shows that he championed such as ''

Father of the Pride ''Father of the Pride'' is a 2004–2005 American adult animated sitcom created by Jeffrey Katzenberg for DreamWorks Animation that was part of a short-lived trend of CGI series in prime-time network television (after '' Game Over''). The ser ...

'' and the '' Friends'' spinoff ''Joey'' were considered failures.

Chief Executive Officer of NBC Universal Television Group

On December 15, 2005, Zucker was promoted by NBC Universal to Chief Executive Officer of NBC Universal Television Group behind Robert Charles Wright, vice chairman of

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...

and chairman & CEO of NBC Universal. 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.

President and CEO of NBC Universal

On February 6, 2007, Zucker became president and CEO of NBC Universal. In 2010, in response to a public controversy over the network's reported rescheduling of late-night hosts Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien, ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' 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". 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 ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' columnist

Maureen Dowd Maureen Brigid Dowd (; born January 14, 1952) is an American columnist for ''The New York Times'' and an author. During the 1970s and early 1980s, Dowd worked for ''The Washington Star'' and ''Time'', writing news, sports and feature articles. ...

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." 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." On June 2, 2010, the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'' reported that Zucker would be paid between $30 million and $40 million to leave NBC Universal shortly after Comcast completed its 51% acquisition in the company.

Career at Disney

''Katie'' producer

Zucker worked with fellow NBC News alum, former ''Today'' host

Katie Couric Katherine Anne Couric ( ; born January 7, 1957) is an American journalist and presenter. She is founder of Katie Couric Media, a multimedia news and production company. She also publishes a daily newsletter, ''Wake Up Call''. From 2013 to 2017, ...

, producing her daytime talk show for Disney-ABC Domestic Television, ''

Katie Katie is an English feminine name. It is a form Katherine, Kate, Caitlin, Kathleen, Katey and their related forms. It is frequently used on its own. People Sports * Katie Boulter (born 1996), British tennis player * Katie Clark (born 1994), Bri ...

''. However, Zucker left the show to be the president of

Worldwide.

Career at WarnerMedia

President of CNN Worldwide

Zucker became president of

CNN Worldwide Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (alternatively known as Turner Entertainment Networks from 2019 until 2022) was an American television and media conglomerate. Founded by Ted Turner and based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (lat ...

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". 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 acquisition ''

Blackfish Blackfish is a common name for the following species of fish, dolphins, and whales: Fish * Alaska blackfish, (''Dallia pectoralis''), an Esocidae from Alaska, Siberia and the Bering Sea islands * Black fish ('' Carassioides acuminatus'') a cypri ...

'', and new series '' Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown''). Zucker explained that he wanted CNN to appeal more to regular viewers of factual networks (such as A&E,

Discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discover ...

, and

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

), and make larger investments into the network's digital properties. With the 2014 cancellation of ''

Piers Morgan Live ''Piers Morgan Live'' (formerly known as ''Piers Morgan Tonight'') was an American television talk show that was hosted by Piers Morgan and broadcast on CNN. The show premiered on January 17, 2011, and filled in the former ''Larry King Live'' ti ...

'', 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. 2014 saw an increase in daytime and primetime viewership of CNN; by October 2014, CNN had overtaken

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politi ...

in primetime

key demographic The key demographic or target demographic is a term in commercial broadcasting that refers to the most desirable demographic group to a given advertiser. Key demographics vary by outlet, time of day, and programming type, but they are generally co ...

viewership, placing second behind

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

. During the

2016 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2016 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2016 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *7 January: Kiri ...

campaign, a large focus was placed upon on-air debates between partisan pundits surrounding issues relating to the candidates (including, in particular, Republican candidate

). In an interview with ''The New York Times'', Zucker stated that aspects of its election coverage were influenced by sports channels (with the ''Times'' citing, specifically, debates between pundits reminiscent of shows such as

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

's '' First 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." In 2016, CNN reached a monthly average of 105 million unique visitors to its web and mobile properties. In March 2019, the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) criticized Zucker and CNN for lack of diversity within the CNN ranks. On February 2, 2021, Zucker announced he would step down at the end of the year. In August 2021, however, it was reported that he did not plan to leave until the completion of the merger of

WarnerMedia Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

and

Discovery, Inc. Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Channel ...

WarnerMedia News & Sports

In March 2019, CNN parent

announced a reorganization in which Zucker would become chairman of the company's news and sports division, overseeing

Turner Sports Warner Bros. Discovery Sports (WBD Sports) is the division of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) that is responsible for sports broadcasts on its parent company's various channels in the United States, including TBS, TNT, AT&T SportsNet, and TruTV. ...

, Bleacher Report and AT&T SportsNet, in addition to maintaining his role as head of CNN.

Resignation from CNN and WarnerMedia

On February 2, 2022, Zucker resigned from CNN. In his resignation letter, Zucker acknowledged that he did not disclose a consensual relationship he had with CNN's Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Allison Gollust, when it began. The relationship was made public in early January 2022 during the network's investigation into

Chris Cuomo Christopher Cuomo ( ; born August 9, 1970) is a television journalist anchor at NewsNation, based in New York City. He has previously been the ABC News chief law and justice correspondent and the co-anchor for ABC's ''20/20'', news anchor for ...

. Following his resignation from CNN, Zucker also resigned from his position as chief of WarnerMedia News & Sports.

Personal life

In 1996, Zucker married Caryn Stephanie Nathanson, then a supervisor for ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...

'', with whom he has four children; the two divorced in 2017. Diagnosed at ages 31 and 34 with colon cancer, Zucker successfully underwent surgery twice and

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs ( chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemothe ...

after the first surgery. In July 2018, Zucker took a six-week leave of absence from CNN to recover from heart surgery.

References

External links

CNN profile
* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zucker, Jeff 1965 births 21st-century American businesspeople 20th-century American Jews American television executives Businesspeople from Miami NBC chief executive officers The Harvard Crimson people Living people NBC Daytime executives NBCUniversal people People from Homestead, Florida Presidents of CNN Presidents of NBC Entertainment Warner Bros. Discovery people 21st-century American Jews