Raising Lazarus

Mark Lazarus spent his first day as SpinCo boss meeting with anxious staffers at 30 Rock, offering reassurances amid uncertainty about the future of MSNBC and CNBC.

Author

Oliver Darcy
November 20, 2024

Mark Lazarus. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

In the New Testament of the Bible, Lazarus is a man who is resurrected by Jesus four days after his death. Inside 30 Rock, a very different Lazarus is hoping to perform a similar miracle: breathing new life into NBCUniversal's assortment of unwanted and dying cable assets.

Mark Lazarus on Wednesday was officially named as the boss of SpinCo, the soon-to-be publicly traded company comprised of the bulk of NBCU's cable channels, including MSNBC, CNBC, E!, Oxygen, SyFy, the Golf Channel, and more. Breaking off networks like Syfy from NBCU shouldn’t be especially difficult or consequential. But extracting the much more high-profile cable news assets from Cesar Conde's NBC News palace will present some knotty challenges.

Which is perhaps why Lazarus commenced the busy first day in his new position meeting with staffers at MSNBC, which now reports to him, not Conde. Not only did Lazarus take questions from the likes of Rachel Maddow during the progressive news network's daily editorial meeting, but I’m told he also spent time in the "Morning Joe" control room and walked the halls of the channel, familiarizing himself with staffers, talent, and executives.

"It’s been a good day, spending a lot of time with [the[ MSNBC team," Lazarus told me Wednesday afternoon…

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