AT&T may be looking to sell CNN in an effort to pay off debt and get rid of the cable network after coverage of President Trump caused a ratings peak the network may not see again.
“CNN does not have Donald Trump to kick around anymore, and their ratings will take a hit,” Fox Business correspondent Charlie Gasparino said during a Tucker Carlson Tonight appearance, adding that CNN’s parent company, AT&T, is “financially unstable” with $150 billion in debt.
“They need to cut costs. There’s an active investor out there,” Gasparino said.
Rumors have swirled that billionaire Jeff Bezos could be interested in buying the company, a deal that Fox Business sources said would make sense for both sides.
Bezos has branched away from Amazon and into media before, completing a $250 million deal in 2013 to buy the Washington Post after 80 years of ownership by one family.
“This rumor is real,” Gasparino said. “AT&T is a screwed up company. … CNN, like a lot of media companies, it may have hit its peak hating Trump.”
Gasparino added that he still believes there are good journalists at CNN for a buyer who might be interested in taking on the news network.
“I’m not a CNN hater. They have a lot of good journalists there,” Gasparino said.