WSJ News Exclusive | CNN’s Jeff Zucker Secured 2021 Bonus Payment of Over $5 Million in Exit Deal With Network’s Parent

The pact between CNN parent WarnerMedia and Mr. Zucker also included a nondisclosure agreement for Mr. Zucker, preventing him from discussing the circumstances of his exit from the network beyond a mutually agreed-upon statement, the people said. As part of the pact, Mr. Zucker waived his rights to sue WarnerMedia, they said.

Despite his agreement with WarnerMedia, Mr. Zucker continues to weigh his legal options, according to a person familiar with his thinking.

Deadline earlier reported some details of Mr. Zucker’s deal with WarnerMedia.

When Mr. Zucker resigned from CNN, he said in a statement that he failed to disclose a romantic relationship with Allison Gollust, the network’s chief marketing officer and top spokeswoman. Ms. Gollust resigned later that month. On the day of Ms. Gollust’s resignation, WarnerMedia Chief Executive

Jason Kilar

said in a memo to employees that an investigation conducted by a law firm hired by CNN had found violations of company policies by Mr. Zucker, Ms. Gollust and Chris Cuomo, a former prime-time anchor who was fired in December.

WarnerMedia, currently a unit of

AT&T Inc.,

is in the process of merging with

Discovery Inc.,

a deal that is expected to close in the second quarter.

Discovery Chief Executive

David Zaslav

last week tapped producer Chris Licht to succeed Mr. Zucker as head of CNN. Mr. Licht is currently the executive producer of

CBS’s

“Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” Prior to that, he produced the CBS news morning program. Before joining CBS News, he was an executive producer of the MSNBC program “Morning Joe.”