NYC Radio: 77WABC's Owner Offers to Buy CNN

Billionaire John Catsimatidis teased that he aims to buy CNN from its corporate parent, Warner Bros. Discovery — and told The NY Post he’d “go run the place tomorrow morning and all I’d want is $1 per year.”

The New York supermarket mogul first said he’d bid on the beleaguered network during a Thursday morning appearance on 77 WABC’s “Sid & Friends in the Morning.”

In a subsequent interview with The Post, however, 74-year-old Catsimatidis wasn’t ready to share details, including how much he’d be willing to pony up.

“It’s up to the investment bankers to come up with the numbers,” Catsimatidis said, although he also signaled that he didn’t believe financing a bid would be a problem.

“We could always bring partners in, but I want to run the place,” he said. “We are capable of putting down a substantial amount of money.”

John Catsimtidis

“I’d go run the place tomorrow morning, and all I’d want is $1 per year and a piece of the upside,” Catsimatidis said, claiming he could “double the profits” in a short amount of time.

Catsimatidis, who boasts a net worth of $4.1 billion, pointed to 77 WABC shooting up to No. 1 in Nielsen’s rated talk radio ratings under his rule as proof that he could bolster CNN’s rank. (77 WABC took first place in October 2021, but sits in the No. 11 spot 6+ as of April.)

Catsimatidis also assured in an interview with The Post that under him, C N would be nothing like it was under Jeff Zucker, who was very publicly anti-Trump and was booted out of the network in early 2022 for failing to disclose his relationship with a subordinate.

He said that if he were to take over, CNN would continue to make moves towards becoming more bipartisan.

“I want the truth, not opinions,” Catsimatidis emphasized. “If people say there’s two truths, let’s voice both truths and let the viewers decide.”