Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s chief international anchor and a fixture of 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 has decided that the time is right to begin a new chapter,” Mark Thompson, CNN’s chief executive, said in a letter to newsroom employees that was obtained by NBC News.
Thompson said Amanpour, 68, plans to “scale back” her eponymous CNN International show to once a week early in 2027. “The program will conclude in May,” Thompson added, “and she will leave CNN at the end of June.”
“Christiane has thought carefully about this decision, and she and I have been discussing it for some months,” Thompson said. “Like so many CNNers who will hear the news today, I’m very sorry to see her go, but l’ve come to accept that this is the right time for her, both personally and professionally.”
Amanpour has covered nearly every major international conflict and global crisis of the last four decades, including the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Bosnian War, the Persian Gulf War, the post-9/11 U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, 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 Moammar Gadhafi, and various Iranian presidents, including Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hassan Rouhani.
In a statement, Amanpour thanked “the amazingly talented people I’ve worked with throughout this incredible journey,” especially her “beloved show teams and field crews.”
“We together battled to seek the facts, the evidence and the humanity, so that CNN could always broadcast the truth about the world and to the world, without fear nor favor,” Amanpour said in part.
Amanpour’s exit comes just weeks after David Ellison’s media corporation Paramount Skydance formally took over Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN.
Thompson will remain the head of CNN under the brand’s new ownership, reporting directly to Skydance co-CEOs Ellison and Ynon Kreiz.