CNN is not for sale, David Zaslav has insisted.
But analysts warn that the CEO of debt-laden Warner Bros. Discovery may not have much choice but to try to sell the asset, however attached to the network he may be. The real question: How hard will it be to get a deal?
The obstacles to a CNN sale are many, from likely regulatory and political blowback, to the most likely buyers facing their own financial challenges — along with the likelihood that Zaslav won’t get the number he needs to make the sale. Yet speculation about a sale seems only to be heating up as the annual Allen & Company conference in Sun Valley approaches next week, a hotbed of media dealmaking.