CNN's Kara Swisher Says She's Leaving the Network As Paramount Is Set To Close Warner Bros. Deal

Sept. 21, 2026

LOS ANGELES — CNN’s Kara Swisher says she’s going to leave CNN now that Paramount Skydance appears to be on its way to closing its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery after the attorneys general of 12 states settled a lawsuit blocking the deal.

On her Pivot podcast today, the veteran journalist told co-host Scott Galloway that she’s done with the network when her contract is up at the end of the year because she doesn’t want to work for Paramount CEO David Ellison and his billionaire father, Larry.

“I was just literally reading my contract today, as you might imagine, when this news struck, because I threatened to leave,” she said. “I have asked my agent to get me out of my contract. It ends December 31st.”

“So it’s only a few months, right?” she added. “[But] I just can’t. I was trying to figure out ways I could work with them in some like licensing way. But then I thought, ‘Fuck these guys.’ I don’t want to work for them. I just don’t.”

Swisher, who has worked at CNN since 2024, said she wants to leave earlier and that the company may well agree to that.

“I have a lot of regard for the executives there now … [but] I am not staying. I have other things that make more money, that matter more, that have a bigger audience … I have been very explicit … I think they are terrible media owners,” she added.

Swisher is known for her work on political matters with CNN which has also included last April’s six-part series Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever.