It’s the most busted salary in news.
CNN is reportedly paying anchor Anderson Cooper $18 million a year — an eye-popping sum that could be in the crosshairs when the ratings-challenged network is spun off by its debt-ridden parent company.
Cooper, the face of the network and host of its primetime show at 8 p.m., has an uncertain future following Monday’s stunning announcement by Warner Bros. Discovery boss David Zaslav about the looming split, according to the Puck newsletter.
Zaslav tapped WBD Chief Financial Officer Gunnar Wiedenfels to start looking for ways to cut costs when he takes over CNN and other cable assets as part of a new company called Global Networks.
“Gunnar news is not good,” one source told The Post on Thursday. “He is slash and burn.”
Puck media writer Dylan Byers singled out Cooper as a possible target.
“Why, for instance, would Gunnar pay Anderson Cooper $18 million a year when Kaitlan Collins draws the same ratings at roughly a fifth of the salary?” Byers wrote.
According to the latest Nielsen ratings, “Anderson Cooper 360” drew 647,000 total viewers on Tuesday — or about $27 per viewer.
“The Source with Kaitlan Collins, which airs at 9 p.m., pulled in 829,000 viewers on Tuesday, according to Nielsen.
Cooper’s exact salary has never been reported and its not clear where Byers got the figure. The Post previously reported that the son of Gloria Vanderbilt is paid as much as $20 million a year.
A CNN spokesperson declined to comment Cooper’s salary.
“By the time Gunnar gets around to it, Anderson will likely have determined that he no longer wants to read the day’s news to less than a million people every night, either,” Byers wrote.
The CNN rep pushed back on Byers’ suggestion that high-salaried anchors face the ax amid anticipated restructuring under Wiedenfels.
“This is a complete fabrication. There is zero truth to this,” the spokesperson said.
The cable news pioneer — which touts itself as “The Most Trusted Name in News” — has hefty contracts but its ratings have plunged to historic lows in recent years.
During breaking news events, Fox News has often quadrupled CNN’s audience.
Fox News is a unit of Fox Corp — sister company to The Post’s corporate parent News Corp.
Last fall, CNN denied raises to veteran anchors Jake Tapper and Wolf Blitzer as rank-and-file journalists braced for layoffs, as The Post reported.
As part of the Warner Bros. Discovery breakup, Zaslav will keep HBO, Warner Bros. Studios and the Max streaming platform.What do you think? Post a comment.
Last week, 59% of shareholders voted against his massive $51.9 million pay package for 2024 — a strong sign of investor frustration.
A $43 billion merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery in 2022 formed WBD.
The majority of its roughly $37 billion in debt load will be moved onto the books of Global Network.
With Alexandra Steigrad
