AT A GLANCE
• Paramount Skydance’s hostile takeover bid deepens CNN’s management limbo and destabilizes its long-term direction
• A possible CNN–CBS News consolidation looms, reshaping the national news landscape
• Trump’s ties to David and Larry Ellison complicate the political dynamics surrounding the takeover
• Lengthy regulatory reviews mean CNN won’t know its future ownership for at least a year, regardless of who wins the bid
Paramount Skydance Bid Puts CNN and a Possible CBS News Merger Into Deep Uncertainty
Paramount Skydance’s hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery has shoved CNN and several other cable networks straight back into corporate limbo, ending the brief sigh of relief staffers felt last week when Netflix announced it would buy Warner’s studio and streaming assets.
The cable networks, including CNN, had been excluded from that deal. Now, if Paramount’s bid succeeds, it could crack open the possibility of CNN merging with CBS News.
That’s hardly the anchored stability CNN once had. Before Ted Turner sold his empire in 1996, everyone knew who ran the place. As Ross Benes, senior analyst at emarketer.com, put it, that era “might as well be the roaring ‘20s for how long ago it feels.”
Paramount’s proposal still needs shareholder and regulatory approval, but the political winds could work in its favor. President Donald Trump is closely aligned with Paramount Skydance chairman David Ellison and his father, Oracle founder Larry Ellison.
Then again, nuance is rarely part of Trump’s brand, and he erupted on social media over Sunday’s “60 Minutes” report on former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, blaming the company’s new ownership for allowing it to air.
Before the takeover drama escalated, Warner Bros. Discovery had already planned to spin off its cable networks into a new company called Discovery Global. Streaming’s ascendance has drained the value of traditional cable, and CNN’s ratings decline hasn’t helped. Once dominant, the network is now a distant third behind Fox News Channel and MS NOW (formerly MSNBC).
Despite the headwinds, CNN CEO Mark Thompson has pushed a digital overhaul, including a paid subscription service. Thompson told staff Friday that Discovery Global approved a 2026 budget supporting that plan. “I know this strategic review has been a period of inevitable uncertainty,” he said in a memo, adding that while the sale discussions won’t quiet down, “the path to the successful transformation of this great news enterprise remains open.”
Thompson declined further comment Monday.
Paramount’s stewardship of CBS News offers a preview of what could come. Since taking control this summer, CBS News has pivoted toward attracting more conservative viewers, installing Free Press founder Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief. Weiss is set to moderate a weekend prime-time discussion with Erika Kirk, widow of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
During a CNBC appearance Monday, Ellison said combining CNN and CBS News was on the table. Details? Zero. “We want to build a scaled news service… in the trust business, in the truth business, and that speaks to the 70% of Americans that are in the middle,” he said.
Trump has praised Ellison and his father but declared “60 Minutes” worse than ever under the new ownership after it aired Greene’s interview. “THEY ARE NO BETTER THAN THE OLD OWNERSHIP,” he fumed on Truth Social.
For CNN, clarity is nowhere in sight. Even before Paramount’s bid, analysts projected more than a year of regulatory barriers for the Netflix deal alone. And if Netflix ultimately closes that acquisition, Discovery Global would likely be shopped around to yet another buyer.
“CNN will be in limbo for a while no matter which bidder purchases CNN,” Benes said.
