

Bryan Lourd and Anderson Cooper attend the 3rd annual Sean Penn & Friends HELP HAITI HOME Gala in Beverly Hills, January 11, 2014. (Credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for J/P Haitian Relief Organization)
Welcome to the latest edition of Breaker. If this email has been forwarded, you can subscribe here and send your questions and complaints here. If you have a tip contact the 24/7 Breaker Tip Hotline via text or Signal # 551 655 2343. Anonymity guaranteed!
In tonight’s edition, we explore the TV talent turf war that is playing out between CAA’s Bryan Lourd and UTA’s Jay Sures, and we reveal the latest client Lourd has poached.
Plus, Wall Street Journal editor Emma Tucker has been making the rounds at Cannes Lions this week while staffers back in New York grow increasingly concerned that the most recent round of quiet layoffs has revealed a pattern about who Tucker is targeting.
Mentioned tonight: Kaitlan Collins, Robert Thomson, Almar Latour, Jim Bankoff, Joanna Coles, Jacqui Heinrich, Norah O'Donnell, Don Lemon, Jake Tapper, Andy Cohen, Kelly Ripa, Janice Min, Neal Mohan, Sara Fischer and Dylan Byers.
The Lourd’s Work
(Exclusive.) The tug-of-war over securing and keeping TV news talent has never been more brutal. Shrinking budgets and declining revenue have resulted in some top TV faces taking sizable salary haircuts while others flee to the allegedly greener pastures of YouTube and Substack. One top agent told Breaker last year that when it comes to contract renewals, “flat is the new up.”
It also means that agents who negotiate those deals on the talent’s behalf are taking a hit to their bottom line. Some agents are pivoting as the market rapidly evolves, but those that don’t adapt will likely go the way of the dinosaurs.
As Breaker first reported on Thursday, Bret Baier dumped his agent, Jay Sures, at UTA recently. We hear the Fox News anchor wasn't impressed by how Sures, who is well known in the industry for negotiating deals in the press, operates.
Another UTA client, CNN’s Anderson Cooper, has signed with CAA CEO and Chairman Bryan Lourd, as first reported by Max Tani at Semafor.
Now we have learned Lourd has also poached…
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