Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s chief international anchor and anchor for the 24/7 news network for more than four decades, plans to leave the company next June.
“After more than 43 years at CNN, Christiane decided the time was right to start a new chapter,” CNN CEO Mark Thompson said in a letter to editorial staff obtained by NBC News.
Thompson told Amanpour, 68, plans to “cut back” her eponymous CNN International show to once a week in early 2027. “The program will end in May,” Thompson added, “and she will leave CNN at the end of June.”
“Christiane thought carefully about this decision, and she and I have discussed it for a few months,” Thompson said. “Like so many CNN viewers who will hear the news today, I am truly sorry to see her go, but I have come to accept that this is the right time for her, both personally and professionally.”
Amanpour has covered almost every major international conflict and global crisis of the past four decades, including the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Bosnian War, the Persian Gulf War, the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11, the Arab Spring, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Israel’s war in Gaza.
She has also interviewed world leaders, including former President Bill Clinton, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, former Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi, and various Iranian presidents, including Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hassan Rouhani.
In a statement, Amanpour confirmed her departure from CNN and PBS, where she hosts the talk show “Amanpour & Company.” She also thanked “the incredibly talented people I have worked with throughout this incredible journey,” especially her “beloved show and grounds teams.”
“We fought together to pursue facts, evidence and humanity, so that CNN could always broadcast the truth about and to the world, without fear or favor,” Amanpour said in part.
Amanpour’s departure comes just weeks after David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance media company officially purchased Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN.
Thompson will remain at the helm of CNN under the brand’s new ownership, reporting directly to Skydance co-CEOs Ellison and Ynon Kreiz.
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