CNN’s flagship anchor Anderson Cooper may be “close to leaving the network,” according to TheWrap.com Wednesday, after Larry King announced his own retirement from the news station.
The silver-haired 43-year old Cooper is frustrated over CNN’s low ratings, Hollywood news website reported, suggesting he is entertaining offers from other networks for when his contact expires next year.
Insiders said Cooper’s expensive, frequent trips to places like Haiti and the Gulf of Mexico had engendered “widespread resentment” among other employees.
Cooper is a frequent public face for CNN, and his image adorns much of their marketing efforts.
His 10 pm evening show frequently draws the least viewers among the three major news networks.
A CNN spokesperson called TheWrap.com report “meaningless conjecture.”
King said Tuesday he would end his nightly talk show on CNN in the fall, after a quarter century marked by high-profile interviews, and more recently by sagging ratings, The Wall Street Journal reported.