As allies of President Donald Trump are poised to take control of his least favorite TV network, many CNN staffers are voicing concerns about the network’s future.
On Friday, CNN This Morning anchor Audie Cornish asked her guest, Axios media reporter Sarah Fisher, a pointed question about what could happen next for CNN after Paramount Skydance, owned by David Ellison, the son of multibillionaire Trump donor Larry Ellison, became poised to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN’s parent company. Netflix backed out of negotiations for the media empire on Thursday.
“I think people have been talking about this because Trump has commented publicly specifically about CNN. Can you talk about that?” Cornish asked her guest. “We‘re a small part of what would be a massive deal. But what do you make of the conversation between the White House and how they talk about this deal?”
Netflix said it would not match Paramount’s latest offer, calling the deal “no longer financially attractive.”
This week, Paramount Skydance revised its offer for the media conglomerate, which also owns HBO, from $30 per share to $31 per share, which was what Warner Bros. requested.
Staffers at CNN are reportedly concerned about the future of their network, following Ellison’s acquisition of Paramount and CBS News, and his installation of Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief.
Weiss’s tenure—marked by high-profile departures, a meeting in which she kissed the president on the cheek, and the delayed airing of a segment that was critical of Trump’s deportation policies—has been criticized both internally and externally for making the network more Trump-friendly.
Fisher answered Cornish, explaining that the review process for Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery will take several months to finalize.
“The way that deals like this get over the finish line is that the DOJ, which is established as an independent agency, but as you and I both know, Pam Bondi, you know, is very close to the president,” she said.
“They‘re supposed to independently decide whether or not to sue to block this deal, and if they do decide to do that, which by the way, they‘re going to investigate this deal, whether it‘s Paramount or Netflix, simply because it‘s so big,” she continued.
Fisher added that “When it comes to the DOJ, if they sue to block this deal … then it goes to an independent judge. And I‘ve seen in the past that independent judges can strike down deals like this.”
Fisher noted that there were still questions about whether the deal would get approvals outside of the U.S., as other countries have a financial stake in Paramount’s offer.
“I don‘t think that the Netflix visit to the White House is what ultimately ended this deal,” Fisher said. “It could have contributed to Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos feeling that this is going to be a very long, drawn-out public battle.
“And what that does is it‘s distracting for your employees. It‘s expensive for your lawyers, and it sort of inhibits you from being able to do anything with the merger until this thing gets approved many, many months down the road,” she added.
CNN’s Jake Tapper was forced to break the news on his show, The Lead, that his network would likely soon be owned by the MAGA-friendly owner of Paramount.
“Paramount has submitted a superior offer, according to Warner Bros. Discovery‘s board. As I‘ve noted, Warner Bros. Discovery is the parent company of CNN,” Tapper said, adding that the sale “affects everybody I‘m looking at right now in the studio.”
CNN Chief Media Analyst Brian Stelter then weighed in on the breaking news.
“In this corporate tug of war, it seems Netflix has suddenly let go of the rope,” he said.
“There‘s a lot, of course, that could still happen here,” Stelter continued, citing regulatory hurdles, “but the big news this afternoon is that Paramount suddenly is in a much stronger position to take over CNN and the rest of the Warner Bros. Discovery company, which includes HBO and the Warner Bros. movie studio, and all those other assets.”
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