July 10 (Reuters) – News outlet CNN will cut about 100 jobs as part of a plan to consolidate news operations and bolster its digital business, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters on Wednesday.
CNN will merge its news-gathering and digital news teams, invest in video operations and launch pay-per-view news products, CNN Worldwide CEO Mark Thompson told staff in the memo.
“We are building a billion dollar+ digital business of the future,” he said in the memo.
CNN will launch a standalone subscription product for CNN.com by the end of this year, the first in a series of planned subscription offerings, including one that will focus on lifestyle and feature content.
Thompson also detailed several changes to CNN’s editorial workflows, including a centralized planning and pitching process and a new “story manager” role to run all aspects of a story from beginning to publication or airing.
The memo said Thompson will discuss the plan with the staff in a town hall meeting on Wednesday.
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Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva
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