Former CNN President Jeff Zucker has finalized a deal with WarnerMedia that will net him $10 million for agreeing not to sue after being forced to resign last month, Deadline reported.
Zucker announced his resignation Feb. 2 after revealing that he had a relationship with a senior network executive.
Sources told Deadline that Zucker decided several weeks ago to accept the settlement deal offered by WarnerMedia, CNN's parent company, at the time of his exit — a one-time payment of around $10 million.
Deadline said Zucker wants to move on from his controversial CNN departure and pursue the next chapter of his career.
As a part of the agreement with WarnerMedia, Zucker has waived any future right or intention to pursue litigation against CNN, Deadline reported.
Zucker had hired attorney Patricia Glaser soon after his resignation. Glaser wrote WarnerMedia to warn its executives that CEO Jason Kilar’s characterization of how everything went down was inching close to becoming defamatory towards her client.
Kilar admitted Zucker and executive Allison Gollust violated company policies related directly to news network’s standards and practices by not notifying the company of their relationship.
Their violations were discovered during a third-party probe into CNN's handling of the "issues" associated with Chris Cuomo and his brother, disgraced former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y.
Gollust last month resigned as executive vice president and chief marketing officer after acknowledging her relationship with Zucker.
Deadline reported that Zucker apparently signed a nondisclosure agreement with WarnerMedia that allowed him, with the company's approval, to designate the reason for his exit.
Former President Donald Trump has said Zucker's resignation had little to do with "concealing a relationship."
"Jeff Zucker is not out at CNN for 'concealing a relationship' as the Fake New York Times writes on its front page headline," Trump said in a Feb. 3 statement.
"Zucker is happy and proud (and lucky!) that he can have a relationship. He is out because of horrible ratings down 90%, an all-time low!"
Chris Licht, most recently Stephen Colbert's top producer at CBS, was appointed the new head of CNN on Feb. 28. He’s expected to take over in May.
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