The seminar was to be on media management. Dozens of scholars filling a classroom at Yale University in April had been there to be taught in regards to the enterprise from a person who had commanded consideration in TV management rooms and company boardrooms for many years earlier than a surprising exit final 12 months.

What they bought was outstanding candor about that exit.

Jeff Zucker, who had been president of CNN for 9 years, informed the group that he believed the community’s former homeowners used his relationship with Allison Gollust — who was additionally in attendance — as a pretext for eradicating him, three folks aware of his feedback stated.

In entrance of the scholars — the place different high-profile media executives, together with Bob Iger of Disney, had been scheduled to talk the identical day — Mr. Zucker in contrast his failure to reveal his relationship with Ms. Gollust, CNN’s former communications chief, to handing over a harmful weapon.

“I gave them a gun, and they shot me with it,” Mr. Zucker stated, based on the folks.

That Mr. Zucker would evaluate his compelled departure to a gunshot wound underscores the depth of his frustration along with his final days at a community he managed with exacting element for years.

The grievance wasn’t uncommon for Mr. Zucker, 58. He typically compares notes on the media enterprise with former colleagues and trade acquaintances, lots of whom name him to grumble in regards to the present state of CNN.

But his gripes have turn out to be extra frequent of late, and he has made no secret of his unhappiness with the phrases of his exit from CNN or his low regard for the efficiency of its present chief, Chris Licht. In a way, he’s now serving as a type of grievance switchboard for present and former staff of the news community, many individuals who’ve spoken with him stated.

Mr. Zucker’s criticism could also be painful for executives operating CNN to listen to second- and thirdhand. But additionally painful are the numbers: The news division, which as soon as frequently made greater than $1 billion in revenue yearly, generated simply $750 million in revenue final 12 months, partially due to what Warner Bros. Discovery stated was $200 million in losses from the CNN+ streaming service. And its rankings had been down greater than 30 p.c within the first quarter of this 12 months in contrast with the identical level within the 2020 presidential election cycle, when Donald J. Trump — a significant driver of cable news viewership — was nonetheless within the White House, based on Nielsen knowledge.

As it has geared as much as cowl the 2024 marketing campaign, the community has dedicated some unforced errors. Last month, CNN hosted a town hall with Mr. Trump in New Hampshire that was criticized for airing false info. Mr. Licht’s management and issues on the helm of the community had been dissected at size in a 15,000-word Atlantic article that was printed Friday.

Many anchors Mr. Zucker employed or promoted, together with Jake Tapper, and Kaitlan Collins, who moderated the city corridor, are nonetheless in outstanding spots in CNN’s lineup. But he has discovered himself banished from the management room throughout a significant news cycle, together with an indictment of former President Trump and the opening acts of the 2024 presidential election.

He has not been hiding away, although. He and Ms. Gollust traveled to Las Vegas to see a Taylor Swift live performance, and final month he attended the Sports Emmy Awards on the invitation of Bryant Gumbel, together with the previous “Today” anchor Matt Lauer. His new workplace in Manhattan — the place a life-size statue of the Incredible Hulk looms within the entryway — is simply blocks from CNN’s former New York headquarters in Columbus Circle.

And he’s attempting to get his subsequent act off the bottom, beginning a brand new enterprise referred to as RedBird IMI with $1 billion to spend on acquisitions within the digital media, sports activities, leisure and news industries.

This article on Mr. Zucker is predicated on interviews with greater than 4 dozen of his associates within the media trade who spoke on situation of anonymity to keep away from jeopardizing their relationship with him. He declined to remark, however via a spokeswoman described his perspective towards CNN.

“It is wholly unsurprising that Jeff Zucker, the architect of CNN’s unprecedented success, would have deep misgivings about the direction the network has taken since he left,” stated Risa Heller, a spokeswoman for Mr. Zucker. She added that it was additionally no shock “that he gets asked a lot, publicly and privately, and regularly from former colleagues, about what he thinks of CNN now.”

Months after he left CNN in February 2022, Mr. Zucker met along with his successor, Mr. Licht. The organizers of that assembly — trade confederates who know each males — hoped {that a} lunch at Mr. Zucker’s home on Amagansett’s tony Hedges Lane would clear the air.

Mr. Zucker had been privately vital of Mr. Licht’s management of CNN, based on individuals who have spoken with him, and the 2 males hadn’t met since Mr. Zucker was pushed out.

The get-together didn’t kindle a lot bonhomie between the media executives, who had been pleasant within the clubby world of TV news. Mr. Licht was in search of a rapprochement. Mr. Zucker was requested to provide recommendation. But afterward, the previous CNN president griped that Mr. Licht didn’t take any of his pointers, stated an individual aware of his emotions following the meal.

“This is all very sad for Jeff,” stated Kenneth Lerer, the co-founder of HuffPost and former chairman of BuzzFeed. “He should move on with his life. It’s disheartening to see.”

Mr. Lerer has a definite perspective on the state of affairs: He is an in depth pal of David Zaslav, the chief government of CNN proprietor Warner Bros. Discovery, and was as soon as additionally pleasant with Mr. Zucker.

Mr. Zucker’s criticism has rankled executives of Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns CNN, based on folks aware of their pondering. They suspect Mr. Zucker has leaked unflattering details about the community’s operations to the press.

He has additionally been candid about what he sees because the missteps of CNN’s former dad or mum firm, AT&T, and its leaders, together with the previous WarnerMedia chief government Jason Kilar, many trade acquaintances who’ve spoken with Mr. Zucker in current months say.

Executives at Warner Bros. Discovery consider Mr. Zucker is waging a proxy warfare towards Mr. Licht, undermining his management from afar, based on three folks aware of their pondering.

Mr. Zucker’s criticisms have come at a very inopportune time for Warner Bros. Discovery, which was created final 12 months from the fusion of WarnerMedia, CNN’s dad or mum firm on the time, and Discovery, the house of “Dr. Pimple Popper” and “90 Day Fiancé” and continues to be attempting to get CNN onto stable footing.

A spokesman for Warner Bros. Discovery stated in an announcement that the corporate was assured within the route of the community and in Mr. Licht’s management of it. “We set a high bar for ourselves and while we know that it will take time to complete the important work that’s underway, we have great confidence in the progress that Chris and the team are making and share their conviction in the strategy,” the assertion stated.

Underlying the grievances are tensions between Mr. Zucker and Mr. Zaslav, who picked Mr. Licht to succeed Mr. Zucker on the high of CNN. Once great friends and business allies — and a daily pair on the East Hampton Golf Club — the 2 males have grown aside since Mr. Zucker’s ouster, folks aware of their relationship say.

In March, Mr. Zaslav visited CNN’s Manhattan headquarters and criticized Mr. Zucker’s management of the community in a gathering with Mr. Licht’s lieutenants, based on somebody at Warner Bros. Discovery. In the assembly, Mr. Zaslav informed CNN executives that Mr. Zucker’s gripes — which had made their approach to him — had been ironic, on condition that Mr. Zucker had as soon as remarked that Mr. Licht was the one government who may do the job if he ever left the community.

Since he took over CNN’s dad or mum firm, Mr. Zaslav has fired again, telling employees in a personal assembly that there was a “period of time” when it turned an “advocacy network,” a not-so-subtle dig at segments that had been stridently vital of President Trump, who drove huge rankings. Mr. Zucker disagrees with that characterization, individuals who have spoken with him say, believing that on his watch the community’s coverage of calling out Mr. Trump’s falsehoods led to journalistic and monetary success.

In one other gathering this spring, Mr. Zucker stated that his departure from CNN was the toughest interval in his life, including that the episode made his bond with Ms. Gollust stronger, based on an individual aware of his remarks. He additionally stated that the punishment he obtained didn’t match the crime.

When Mr. Zucker was compelled out of CNN final 12 months, he and the community’s dad or mum firm negotiated over an announcement designating his failure to reveal his relationship with Ms. Gollust as the rationale for his exit. “I was required to disclose it when it began but I didn’t. I was wrong,” Mr. Zucker wrote in a memo to staff on the time.

According to 2 folks aware of Mr. Zucker’s departure from CNN, an organization investigation into his conduct by the legislation agency Cravath, Swaine and Moore discovered a number of violations of CNN’s requirements and practices, together with participating in advising former New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo.

Ms. Heller, Mr. Zucker’s spokeswoman, stated Mr. Zucker didn’t advise Mr. Cuomo.

“As we have said numerous times, Mr. Zucker never advised Andrew Cuomo, directly or indirectly,” she stated. “He was asked to resign for one reason only, failure to disclose his relationship.”

For Mr. Zucker, who has been in senior administration ranks since his 20s, when he turned government producer of “Today,” his abrupt exit from CNN represented a marked change of tempo. He quickly started to discover his choices, gravitating to the acquainted territories of sports activities and media. Years in the past, Mr. Zucker told a author for the Harvard Crimson, the campus newspaper he labored on as an undergraduate, that he hadn’t taken a break day since ending faculty.

Shortly after his ouster from CNN, Mr. Zucker started plotting his subsequent transfer, assembly with advisers, former colleagues and trade stalwarts at upscale watering holes just like the Core Club in New York and the Four Seasons in Los Angeles. But at the same time as he deliberate for the longer term, Mr. Zucker was eager about his previous.

In the summer time, he traveled to Jackson Hole, in Wyoming, for an off-the-record gathering of media executives. In a fireplace chat on the occasion, he was requested for his view on the present route of CNN and in his reply criticized Mr. Kilar for the best way the manager dealt with his exit, based on two folks aware of his remarks.

In his new endeavor, the funding automobile Redbird IMI, he has informed confidants he’s inquisitive about constructing an organization that owns digital publications focused at particular audiences, much like Condé Nast, writer of Vogue and The New Yorker. He has held talks with homeowners of digital-media start-ups, however these conversations haven’t but resulted in a deal. He is now one in every of at the very least three suitors exploring a deal to take a majority stake in Air Mail, the media firm based by the previous Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter.

In current months, he has additionally met with Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder and proprietor of The Washington Post, based on three folks aware of their dialog.

One firm Mr. Zucker is just not in talks to accumulate is CNN, based on folks aware of his plans. Though he has informed some associates he could be inquisitive about buying the community ought to it come up on the market at some point, he has lamented to others that CNN’s present homeowners, Warner Bros. Discovery, have broken the community a lot via cost-cutting that he wouldn’t be inquisitive about proudly owning it.

But Mr. Zucker has explored a deal for the community earlier than. In late 2020, he and Andrew Morse, CNN’s former digital chief, met with Emerson Collective, the umbrella firm based by Laurene Powell Jobs, and had preliminary conversations a few potential spinout of the community. Without informing Mr. Kilar, his boss on the time, Mr. Zucker referred Emerson Collective’s curiosity to an government at AT&T. The deal by no means occurred, and AT&T in the end turned to Discovery.

There are indicators that Mr. Zucker believes he may as soon as once more be calling the photographs at a media group. He has informed associates that he’s open to an operational function at one of many firms he buys, and plenty of of his confidantes consider he may nonetheless land one other large company job.

An expert revival for Mr. Zucker has some precedent. After he was fired as chief government of NBCUniversal in 2010, Mr. Zucker created a brand new daytime present for Disney with the previous “Today” host Katie Couric that he called a “tremendous opportunity.”

Then he bought the CNN job. “Katie” was off the air two years later.