Maureen Dowd of the New York Times once quoted a network boss as saying this about media executive Jeff Zucker after he tanked NBC:

“Zucker is a case study in the most destructive media executive ever to exist. You’d have to tell me who else has taken a once-great network and literally destroyed it.”

Then Zucker had a repeat performance with CNN, which saw a 50 percent reduction in viewership during his reign as it became the “hate Trump” network. Without Trump to kick around, the network viewers bolted.

Astonishingly, despite that epic failure, Zucker was hired to create a new subscription streaming video platform called CNN+ that debuted in late March. The joke was that it was viewed by dozens and dozens of people. If people weren’t watching CNN for free, why in the world would anyone pay for the programming?

The investment in the network topped $300 million. CNN’’s new owners, the Discovery Network, conducted a mercy killing on Thursday and announced CNN+ would close on April 30.

Look for Zucker to move over to MSNBC next.

And for some comic relief, just three weeks ago, this was the official line from CNN‘s spokesman. Oops.