The Freedom of the Press Foundation and Reporters Without Borders sent a letter to Paramount’s chief legal officer demanding to see the company’s books and records over reports that Paramount CEO David Ellison promised the White House favors to secure federal approval for the company’s bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery.
“This reporting creates a credible basis to believe that Ellison, other board members, and other Paramount executives may have breached their fiduciary duties or otherwise committed misconduct,” the press freedom groups’ lawyers, who work for the Public Integrity Project, wrote to Paramount’s chief legal officer Makan Delrahim on Thursday.
A Paramount spokesperson did not respond to an immediate request for comment. The letter is the latest in a series of letters and statements from media and entertainment advocates against the deal.
Status first reported the letter.
The groups cited a Delaware law that allows company shareholders — both the FPF and Reporters Without Borders are Paramount shareholders — to examine the documents for “any proper purpose.”
The groups dedicate 12 pages of their 19-page letter to several news articles reporting on actions by Ellison and his father, billionaire and Donald Trump friend Larry Ellison, in their quest to buy Paramount and later Warner Bros. Discovery. They cite the run-up to Stephen Colbert’s “The Late Show” cancellation ahead of the Paramount merger’s approval, stories that said the Ellisons promised Trump administration officials “sweeping” changes to CNN if their WBD deal is approved and the changes Bari Weiss has made to CBS News since Ellison named her editor in chief.
“The foregoing account of recent events—drawn entirely from investigative reporting published in the mainstream news media—creates a credible concern that Paramount leadership has offered, solicited, or effectuated a corrupt exchange: more favorable coverage of the Trump administration and its allies in exchange for favorable treatment by Trump administration antitrust and media regulators,” they wrote. “Such a corrupt bargain, if it has been proposed or consummated, would constitute a breach of fiduciary duties, and would expose Paramount to a range of potential civil and criminal penalties, as well as potential liabilities under federal and state law.”
The groups asked Paramount to respond within five days or face legal action.
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