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AT&T CEO Won’t Commit to Keeping Jeff Zucker at CNN

“There will invariably be changes, but the hope is to keep the team in place.”

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson won’t publicly commit to keeping CNN chief Jeff Zucker should his company end up merging with Time Warner. Vanity Fair reported earlier this year on speculation that President Trump could use the proposed AT&T-Time Warner merger to oust Zucker from CNN—a cable network the president has repeatedly accused of being “fake news” and unfair to his agenda. During a Vanity Fair event Wednesday in Beverly Hills, Stephenson dodged a question about Zucker’s future, saying, “We’re paying a premium to get Time Warner, and when you pay a big premium, the priority is to not screw it up. CNN’s doing quite well, and the priority is to keep management teams in place.” However, he added, “there will invariably be changes, but the hope is to keep the team in place.”