Donald Trump’s MAGA billionaire ally David Ellison has cleared his last legal hurdle to take over CNN.
The Skydance CEO, whose company acquired Paramount, and with it, CBS News, last year, will add Warner Bros. Discovery under his umbrella. CNN Chief Media Analyst Brian Stelter is reporting that the merger is expected to “take effect in early October.”
Twelve state attorneys general were granted a restraining order to block the merger on the grounds that merging Skydance-Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery would “extinguish competition” in the industry. All have since backed down, allowing the $110 billion deal to go through.
CNN is included in the deal, and Ellison has repeatedly claimed that the new organization will maintain journalistic integrity if he is allowed to take over. Deal details reveal that an “independence board” to keep CNN and CBS editorially independent will be chosen by Ellison—and will report to Ellison.
The son of tycoon Larry Ellison spent Trump’s second term schmoozing the president and overseeing the MAGA-friendly rebrand of CBS News, which included the installation of The Free Press founder Bari Weiss as Editor-in-chief.
Weiss’ tenure at CBS News brought massive upheaval amid allegations that she interfered in reporting to make its content more pro-Trump, according to several former CBS journalists.
CNN staffers have reportedly been panicking since Paramount won its bid to acquire the company over Netflix earlier this year, fearing a CBS-style MAGA makeover. Trump and others in his administration have cheered the pending takeover, decrying CNN’s “fake news” reporting about his administration.
This past week, Trump banned CNN, along with MS NOW and Politico, from the White House—though he could be open to welcoming CNN back in once it’s fully under the control of Ellison.
