Bianna Golodryga is leaving CNN after nine years for an opportunity she says she could not pass up, becoming the second high-profile departure the network announced this week.
The 48-year-old co-anchor of CNN International’s “One World” posted her decision on X on Thursday and kept her next destination private.
A CNN spokesperson confirmed to The Post that network boss Mark Thompson told staffers about the exit Thursday morning, before her social media message went up. Her last day is Friday. She is expected to sign off at the end of her broadcast. Co-anchor Zain Asher will stay in the chair.
Golodryga declined to say more when The Post reached her Thursday.
Golodryga put the news in plain terms on X.
"After nine wonderful years at CNN, I’ve decided to leave for an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. I’m grateful for the experiences, friendships and support from fabulous colleagues during my CNN years. Exciting news to share very soon!"
That was the full public explanation. No new employer. No start date. No job title.
She has co-anchored “One World” with Asher since September 2023 and also served as the network’s senior global affairs analyst.
Golodryga’s announcement arrived days after veteran correspondent Christiane Amanpour’s surprise exit news on Monday.
Amanpour, 68, said she would leave after 43 years. She plans to step away from her daily program at the end of the year, keep hosting a weekly show through May, and depart in June 2027.
Two recognizable names out in the same week leaves CNN with a thinner top tier of international talent on the air.
The departures follow a major ownership change. Paramount Skydance completed its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on Oct. 6, bringing CNN and CBS News under the same corporate umbrella.
The combined company is now known simply as Skydance and is led by David Ellison, son of Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison.
Golodryga’s Friday sign-off comes just over two weeks after that deal closed. The network has not tied her exit to the sale. She has not either.
Golodryga was born in Moldova when it was still part of the Soviet Union. She came to the United States with her parents as Jewish refugees in 1980 and grew up in the Houston area.
She started in television at CNBC in 2001, later worked as a news and finance anchor at Yahoo, co-anchored the weekend edition of ABC’s “Good Morning America,” and moved to CBS News as a correspondent. She became a co-host of “CBS This Morning,” then left CBS in April 2019 after a morning-show lineup overhaul.
She first joined CNN as a contributor in 2017 while still at CBS. Five months after leaving CBS she went full-time at CNN.
Fluent in Russian, she covered Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the aftermath of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel. She also conducted a 2019 exclusive interview with Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei and co-authored the children’s novel “Don’t Feed the Lion” with Israeli journalist Yonit Levi last year.
She is married to Peter Orszag, the former Obama administration budget director who now serves as CEO of the investment bank Lazard. The couple has two children.
Her CNN chapter ends Friday with a final broadcast and a promise of “exciting news” still unannounced. Asher keeps the “One World” desk. Amanpour’s long runway runs into 2027. New ownership is already in place.
Cable news keeps losing familiar faces while corporate deals reshape the bench. Viewers will see who stays, who leaves, and what fills the empty chairs.
