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CNN’s Contract Cliff

With their contracts approaching expiration under Skydance, the futures of Brianna Keilar and Clarissa Ward are uncertain, Status has learned—while network boss Mark Thompson and his lieutenants also remain without deals. Meanwhile, CNN’s New York bureau is wrestling with an abrupt and major exit.

Oliver Darcy
Oliver Darcy

Nov 12, 2026

CNN’s Contract Cliff

CNN’s Contract Cliff

With their contracts approaching expiration under Skydance, the futures of Brianna Keilar and Clarissa Ward are uncertain, Status has learned—while network boss Mark Thompson and his lieutenants also remain without deals. Meanwhile, CNN’s New York bureau is wrestling with an abrupt and major exit.

Oliver Darcy
Oliver Darcy

Nov 12, 2026

CNN’s Contract Cliff

Last month, after self-described "dark MAGA" billionaire Elon Musk cryptically threatened that CNN contributor Kara Swisher could end up in prison, and then subsequently invested in the network's new parent company, Skydance, the outlet agreed to end Swisher’s paid contributor contract. Though Swisher’s deal with the Mark Thompson-led network was not set to expire until the end of 2026, CNN accepted that she had no interest in sticking around, Status has learned.

It wasn’t for lack of trying. CNN had previously sought to keep the technology journalist and attempted to woo her into signing a new deal. But Swisher, who had repeatedly made clear in the lead-up to the Ellisons taking control of the company that she intended to promptly head for the exits, was not swayed. Indeed, after Musk's tweet about her, she informed CNN brass that…

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Oliver Darcy

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