Top CNN earners include prime-time anchor Anderson Cooper, who makes an estimated $20 million a year; Wolf Blitzer, who earns about $15 million; Jake Tapper, who pulls in more than $8.5 million; and Chris Wallace, who makes about $8 million, two insiders said. Other co-anchors, including John Berman, Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner, make in the $1 million to $2 million range, a third executive with knowledge of salaries told TheWrap.

Thompson has indicated in a staff memo he is looking to trim production costs “that now look difficult to support,” which media experts and former staffers say is likely to mean cuts to at least some of those big salaries. But contracts for some of the biggest stars, including Cooper and Tapper, are not due to expire until after the presidential election — at the end of 2025 or 2026, according to two people familiar with the situation. 

“The first thing they need to do is dramatically reduce costs,” Rich Greenfield, a partner and media and tech analyst at LightShed Partners, told The Wrap. “If you work at CNN your compensation is going to go down dramatically over the next…five years, there’s just no other way around it.”