Jeff Zucker facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jeff Zucker
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Zucker at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival
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| Born |
Jeffrey Adam Zucker
April 9, 1965 Homestead, Florida, U.S.
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| Education | Harvard University (AB) |
| Occupation | CEO of RedBird IMI |
| Years active | 1986–present |
| Employer | RedBird Capital Partners |
| Spouse(s) |
Caryn Nathanson
(m. 1996; div. 2017) |
| Children | 4 |
Jeffrey Adam Zucker (born April 9, 1965) is an American businessman who has led many big media companies. He was the president of CNN Worldwide from 2013 to 2022. At CNN, he was in charge of channels like CNN, CNN International, HLN, and CNN Digital. Before that, he was the CEO of NBCUniversal.
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Early Life and Education
Jeffrey Adam Zucker was born in Homestead, Florida, on April 9, 1965. His father was a heart doctor, and his mother was a teacher.
He was very active in high school. He led the tennis team, was the editor of the school newspaper, and even worked as a young reporter for The Miami Herald. He was also president of his class for three years, using the slogan "The little man with the big ideas." After high school, he went to Harvard University. At Harvard, he was the president of the school newspaper, The Harvard Crimson. He graduated from Harvard in 1986 with a degree in American history.
Career in Media
Starting at NBC
After college, Jeff Zucker began his career at NBC. He started with an internship at the 1988 Summer Olympics.
In 1989, he became a producer for the Today show. By 1992, at just 26 years old, he became the show's executive producer. He helped make Today very popular, introducing its outdoor concert series. He is known for leading the show during its most successful years, helping it become number one in ratings for 16 years.
Leading NBC Entertainment
In 2000, Zucker was named president of NBC Entertainment. He was in charge of all entertainment shows on NBC. During this time, he helped the network stay popular by airing shows like Fear Factor. He also helped keep the hit series Friends on air for a tenth season and brought Donald Trump's reality show The Apprentice to TV. He even had the idea to make Friends episodes 10 minutes longer. The time when Friends was on air was very profitable for NBC.
Zucker also helped launch other shows like Las Vegas, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and Scrubs. He thought of airing "Supersized" episodes of comedies, which were longer than the usual 30 minutes. He also focused on showing new programs during the summer months, when most networks only showed reruns.
Becoming CEO of NBC Universal
In 2005, Jeff Zucker was promoted to Chief Executive Officer of NBC Universal Television Group. He was responsible for all TV programs across the company, including network shows, news, cable, sports, and the Olympics.
In 2007, he became the president and CEO of NBC Universal. However, during his time as CEO, NBC's ratings went down. The network, which used to be number one, sometimes had lower ratings than even some cable channels.
In 2010, after Comcast bought a majority share in NBC Universal, Zucker left the company.
Producing Katie
After leaving NBC, Zucker worked with former Today host Katie Couric. He helped produce her daytime talk show, Katie. However, he soon left the show to become the president of CNN Worldwide.
Time at CNN Worldwide
Jeff Zucker became president of CNN Worldwide on January 1, 2013. Many people at CNN were happy about his arrival. Anderson Cooper even said that Zucker was "the first CNN president to actually watch CNN."
Zucker wanted CNN to offer more "attitude and a take" to viewers. He also wanted to focus more on reality-style documentary series, like Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. He aimed for CNN to appeal to people who watched factual networks like A&E and Discovery. He also invested more in CNN's digital platforms.
In 2014, CNN's viewership increased. By October 2014, CNN had more viewers than MSNBC during primetime.
During the 2016 U.S. presidential election, CNN focused a lot on debates between experts about the candidates. Zucker said that parts of their election coverage were like sports channels, with debates between experts and big "pre-game" shows for the presidential debates. He explained that "the idea that politics is sport is undeniable." In 2016, CNN's websites and mobile apps had 105 million unique visitors each month.
In March 2019, CNN's parent company, WarnerMedia, reorganized. Zucker became the chairman of the company's news and sports division. This meant he oversaw Turner Sports, Bleacher Report, and AT&T SportsNet, in addition to his role at CNN.
On February 2, 2022, Zucker resigned from CNN. He also resigned from his role as chief of WarnerMedia News & Sports.
RedBird IMI
In December 2022, Zucker was named an executive at RedBird IMI. This is a group with funding from Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the UAE. It's a joint project between Gerry Cardinale's RedBird Capital Partners and International Media Investments. This new role also includes being involved with the XFL, a professional football league that RedBird partly owns.
RedBird IMI had planned to buy The Telegraph, a well-known British newspaper. This caused some discussion in the United Kingdom because people were concerned about a foreign state owning a major newspaper. In April 2024, RedBird said they would not go through with the purchase.
Personal Life
In 1996, Jeff Zucker married Caryn Stephanie Nathanson. She was a supervisor for Saturday Night Live. They had four children together and divorced in 2017.
Zucker has faced some health challenges. He had colon cancer in 1996 and 1999 and had surgery and chemotherapy. In July 2018, he took a break from CNN to recover from heart surgery.
He was also an executive in residence at Columbia Business School.
