CNN Money Switzerland to cease operations

Christophe Rasch, chief executive of CNN Money Switzerland, at a news conference in November 2017. Keystone

Switzerland’s first national English language business channel, CNN Money Switzerland, has announced it will stop broadcasting due to economic uncertainty amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The board of directors unanimously decided to file for bankruptcy, according to a company statement on Monday.

“Over the past six months, the impact of the new coronavirus pandemic on CNNMS’s revenue has been considerable,” the statement said.

“The company’s revenues have contracted rapidly as its business partners (…) have cancelled or postponed their contracts,” it added.

The company said it will try to limit the consequences on its 25 staff members and business partners.

However, CNNMS which was launched at the beginning of 2018, said it recorded sharply rising audience figures, apparently reaching an average of 150,000 unique visitors per month.

CNNMSExternal link has targeted senior executives, CEOs and influencers in Switzerland. At the launch, CNN executives said the venture would “fill the void” for business programming in English in a country in which up to half of the population are said to use or work in English every day.