The brawl for CNN’s parent company has turned the television network into a political bargaining chip, with bidder David Ellison signalling to Donald Trump that he can reshape a channel the US president loathes.
Many in CNN’s newsroom were relieved last week when Netflix was named the winner over Ellison’s Paramount for the takeover of Warner Bros Discovery, its owner.
Netflix’s $83bn deal to buy WBD’s streaming and studios business meant that a plan to separate CNN and other legacy television channels from the rest of the business would go ahead next year.
The prospect of being hived off alongside WBD’s fading cable networks, in the eyes of most CNN staff, was better than the alternative: a merger with Paramount, which owns CBS News led by Free Press founder Bari Weiss, a prominent critic of “woke culture”.
But Paramount’s $108bn hostile takeover bid for the whole group, lodged on Monday, once more puts CNN in play. For Paramount, CNN’s political baggage has become an opportunity.
People close to the deal said the White House was likely to look favourably on a Paramount-Skydance victory, putting the 24-hour news channel in the hands of Trump supporter Larry Ellison and his son David, and under Weiss, who has positioned herself as an anti-“cancel culture” figure and an alternative to the mainstream media.
Trump is often openly critical of CNN’s coverage and has personally attacked its hosts. Last weekend, the president called “Fake News CNN” anchor Kaitlan Collins “stupid” and “nasty” in a Truth Social post.
Trump has inserted himself into the drama, setting up a finale to the Hollywood battle in which he casts himself as a kingmaker. He announced on Sunday he “would be involved” in the decision on whether to clear the Netflix acquisition while describing the streaming giant’s chief executive Ted Sarandos as “fantastic”.
Paramount chief David Ellison visited Washington in recent days to meet Trump administration officials, during which they discussed his commitment to making CNN’s news operations “more balanced” if his bid succeeds, according to people briefed on the meeting.
Ellison did not make any firm promises but people involved said it was made clear that, under Paramount’s ownership, CBS and CNN would not be acting as what some Republicans perceive as a “branch of the [media] resistance” against Trump.
Another person familiar with Paramount’s pitch said the Ellisons saw CNN as a useful card to play to try to win WBD, by swaying Trump to support its offer.
“CNN is politically toxic in the US and they saw themselves as the group that could solve that,” the person said. “Trump doesn’t care about streaming; he cares about CNN. Paramount needed CNN in the deal, everyone else wanted it out.”
People close to Ellison stressed Paramount’s independence and noted Trump recently attacked the group over CBS’s airing a 60 Minutes interview with Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who recently resigned from Congress after a dramatic falling-out with the president.
Paramount’s attempt to gatecrash the deal has raised fears among CNN staffers that their newsroom could be combined with CBS.
The worry is a merger could lead to job losses, as well as a potential shift in tone and coverage for CNN. Under chief executive Mark Thompson, the channel has sought to tread a centre line at a time when news outlets are increasingly being dragged to political extremes to find their audiences.
Since buying conservative opinion and news website Free Press for $150mn last year, Paramount has installed Weiss as CBS News editor-in-chief, leading to an overhaul of its programming and teams. The appointment triggered fears among some insiders of a shift in political direction.
News of Netflix’s victory had brought “a sense of relief”, said one CNN insider, who pointed to “quite significant editorial concerns” over a merger with CBS.
But combining the news networks has financial merit. Robert Fishman, analyst at MoffettNathanson, noted that it “would likely yield significant cost synergies, while unlocking strategic benefits from pairing CBS News with CNN”.
The deal would bring together CBS’s news teams and flagship shows such as 60 Minutes with CNN’s global audience.
Netflix is still in the driving seat. For the streamer, excluding CNN from its bid avoids one more political problem as it prepares for one of the most difficult regulatory battles in US media history. Netflix had little interest in inheriting a fraught relationship with the administration.
Should Netflix’s deal proceed, CNN will need to find its own path at a time when its traditional cable TV business has suffered a sharp fall in viewers as more people turn to digital alternatives.
CNN and cable networks such as TNT, Discovery and the Food Network would be spun off into a separate publicly traded company called Discovery Global led by Gunnar Wiedenfels, chief financial officer of WBD.
One rival media boss said that in the short term, keeping CNN would help the wider group and its other legacy cable networks. “GunnarCo needs it for the leverage it gives them with cable operators — they need those fees. These are all ex-US execs too, and outside the US CNN still opens a lot of doors.”
But insiders are optimistic that Wiedenfels will give CNN the support it needs as part of the spun-off group. “We are going to be a bigger piece of the pie going forward so could get more attention,” said one.
Executives close to WBD said the Netflix agreement offered CNN its best shot at pursuing its own strategy, but the network still faces a difficult path in an industry under severe pressure.
Thompson, CNN’s chair, has sought to turn around the news network, introducing a new streaming subscription this autumn aimed at those shunning cable television. CNN’s website brought in a partial digital paywall last year.
Now with the future of WBD’s crown jewel assets in streaming and studios potentially back in play, the future of the WBD “rump”, including its US network brands, is again uncertain.
Two media bankers said CNN could become a takeover target as legacy television assets continued to struggle. Paramount, they added, could yet revive long-held ambitions to fold CNN into CBS — an idea that has not been canvassed internally since the company’s defeat in the bidding war for the broader Warner Bros group.
Private equity firms have also circled the sector, attracted by the reliable cash flow generated by cable and news assets even as they decline.
“We are an easier acquisition target [if the Netflix deal goes ahead],” said one CNN staffer, pointing to the still considerable profits made by the network.
If the spin-off goes ahead, there would be “a brief hiatus in terms of deal activity that will give management a chance to execute their strategy”, said one person briefed on deliberations about CNN’s future.
“But you should expect somebody to come along soon expressing interest. If they do well, they will be negotiating from a position of strength; if not, expect a buyer to arrive and cut costs and jobs aggressively.”
Thompson sought to reassure staff after the Netflix announcement last week about what the deal meant for CNN.
“The answer is that it will enable us to continue to roll out our strategy to secure a great future for CNN by successfully navigating our digital transition,” he said in a memo.
He said that the budget for 2026 would increase. “Of course, I can’t promise you that the media attention and noise around the sale of our parent will die down overnight,” he admitted.
Thompson acknowledged in his message to staff that it had been an “exhausting, momentous year”. Netflix and Paramount’s fight over the deal, and continued questions over the future of CNN strategy if Discovery is spun off, mean staff are unlikely to find the next year any easier.
With the Ellisons still circling and Trump signalling personal interest in the outcome, CNN’s fate may yet be shaped as much in Washington as in the boardrooms vying for its parent.
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