CEO to Retire After 11 Years at CNN Helm

CNN chief Tom Johnson unexpectedly announced Thursday that he is retiring after 11 years at the helm of the news network.

Johnson, news group chairman and chief executive, had insisted for the last year that he had no plans to leave the Atlanta-based network, even as new management structures left him with less day-to-day responsibility.

In March, new owner AOL Time Warner named former WB Network chief Jamie Kellner as chairman and chief executive of Turner Broadcasting, where Kellner has taken an active role in reshaping CNN, one of the division’s cable channels.

When Johnson, 59, arrived in 1990, CNN was heading to the top of its game with a 24-hour format that revolutionized the TV news business.

The former publisher of the Los Angeles Times vastly expanded CNN’s worldwide distribution, giving it unusual access to world leaders. The network’s groundbreaking coverage of the Persian Gulf War in 1991 assured its reputation.

But the arrival of News Corp.’s Fox News Channel and General Electric Co.-Microsoft Corp. cable news venture MSNBC five years ago, and the strengthening of GE’s business channel, CNBC, have eaten away at CNN’s monopoly. Critics said CNN, although profitable, failed to move fast enough as ratings dropped sharply and viewers turned to the rivals’ jazzier formats. In January, CNN laid off 400 people, nearly 10% of its work force.

Johnson, who begins a transition period immediately, is the latest of many high-level CNN executives to leave. Last August, CNN/U.S. President Rick Kaplan was forced out and CNN Business News President Shelby Coffey, editor of the Los Angeles Times under Johnson, left in January. Bernard Shaw retired in February after two decades as CNN’s lead anchor.

Johnson, who kept his retirement decision a secret even from Turner management, didn’t return calls. In a memo sent to his staff Thursday, Johnson said it is time for him to spend more time with his grown children and to travel with his wife.

“It is time for a workaholic to escape the stress of work before stress gets me,” he added.

Johnson, a former deputy press secretary and special assistant to President Lyndon Johnson, will stay on as an advisor to Kellner.

Phil Kent, president and chief operating officer of CNN News Group, will report directly to Kellner, and Eason Jordan, chief news executive, will report to Kellner and Kent. Johnson is expected to be replaced, according to one executive, but not immediately.