Donald Trump’s pal David Ellison was hit with a temporary pause on his plans to acquire the parent company of CNN.
Ellison’s Skydance, which acquired Paramount in August, set its sights on Warner Bros. Discovery and is well on its way to further consolidating the entertainment industry after Netflix pulled out of its bid for the company’s streaming, gaming, and studio properties.
But on Monday, a federal judge halted the $110 billion deal at the request of 12 state attorneys general.
NBC News reports that U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín of the Northern District of California, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Joe Biden in 2022, granted the coalition of states a 14-day restraining order after they argued that the merger of Skydance-Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery would “extinguish competition” in the industry.
California AG Rob Bonta stated in the filing, “The unlawful merger of these two entertainment behemoths would lead to higher prices, lower quality, and less content for film and television, harming movie theaters, basic cable distributors, and ultimately, audiences on every sofa and movie theater seat in the U.S.”
The blow comes after the Trump-friendly company spent the past year cozying up to the president ahead of its merger with Paramount, which required his administration’s approval. The lead-up to that merger saw the end of Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show, which some Democratic lawmakers saw as a fealty move to Trump on Paramount’s part.
The week the franchise’s cancellation was announced, Colbert accused Paramount of “bribing” the president after it paid the president $16.5 million to settle his lawsuit against 60 Minutes. The company insisted that the storied franchise was axed for “purely financial reasons.”
Ellison installed MAGA-friendly chief Bari Weiss to lead Paramount’s CBS News, where she proceeded to overhaul the long-running news program 60 Minutes, install the MAGA-curious CBS Evening News host Tony Dokoupil, and oversee the exit of several high-profile journalists and producers.
Ellison’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, should it pass legal hurdles, would also hand the son of tycoon Larry Ellison control of CNN, which he is also expected to turn over to Weiss.
“I think CNN should be sold because the people that are running CNN right now are either corrupt or incompetent,” Trump said of the potential merger late last year, adding that it would be “imperative” for CNN to be part of the Warner Bros. sale.
