Who owns CNN?
CNN is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery (the United States, NASDAQ: WBD).[1]
Key facts
- Current owner
- Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. verified
- Owned since
- Not recorded
- Previous owner
- None recorded
- Owner HQ
- 🇺🇸 United States, New York, New York
- Origin
- 🇺🇸 United States, Atlanta, Georgia
- Founded
- 1980
- Category
- Media & entertainment › Film & television › Television networks
- Parent ticker
- NASDAQ: WBD
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About CNN
CNN was founded by Ted Turner in 1980 as the first channel devoted entirely to news, an idea widely predicted to fail. Its coverage of the 1991 Gulf War established rolling live reporting as the format every competitor then adopted.
Ownership timeline of CNN
- 1980 – present Warner Bros. Discovery [1] verified
Where CNN sits in Warner Bros. Discovery
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Warner Bros. Discovery ownership tree →
Other brands owned by Warner Bros. Discovery in media & entertainment
Latest news about CNN
No tagged news items yet. Headlines are added nightly from public feeds; only titles and links are stored.
Headlines link to the original publisher. Brandtree does not reproduce article text.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of CNN?
The parent company of CNN is Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly listed company headquartered in the United States.
Is CNN American?
Yes. CNN originated in the United States in 1980 and its owner, Warner Bros. Discovery, is also headquartered in the United States.
Is CNN still owned by Warner Bros. Discovery?
Yes. As of 8 September 2026, CNN is still owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-02-27 — SEC EDGAR, SEC Form 10-K, published 27 February 2026; retrieved 8 September 2026.
Report a correction Opens a pre-filled GitHub issue. See our corrections policy.