For months, skeptics of Paramount’s $111 billion deal for Warner Bros. Discovery have wondered how much David Ellison, the tech scion in charge of the combined company, might want to change CNN. As it turns out: not much. For now, at least.
Mr. Ellison is working out a deal to keep Mark Thompson, CNN’s current chief executive, in place as the network’s top leader for at least the next year, according to two people with knowledge of the talks who spoke on condition of anonymity because the details were not yet finalized.
Under the plan taking shape, Bari Weiss, the contrarian critic of mainstream media that Mr. Ellison picked to run CBS News, would remain in her current role as the deal closes. For the time being, she is not expected to take on editorial or operational oversight of CNN, according to one of those people and another person familiar with the negotiations.
Ms. Weiss retains the support of the Ellison family and her role could eventually change, the two people added.
Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery will create a media giant that places CBS News and CNN, the streaming services HBO and Paramount+ and two major movie studios, Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures, under the same corporate umbrella. The deal is scheduled to close next week after a legal battle that delayed its completion for several months.
In the negotiations, which are ongoing, Mr. Thompson has long insisted on preserving his authority to operate the network independently, without interference from other executives.
It is possible that Mr. Thompson and Mr. Ellison do not reach an agreement that allows him to run CNN for the foreseeable future.
But the arrangement, if it pans out, is likely to assuage some critics who worried that Mr. Ellison would quickly bring significant changes to the 24-hour cable network. Some journalists at CNN feared the prospect of working for Ms. Weiss, a longtime opinion journalist who once worked on the New York Times’s opinion section. Her CBS News tenure has been marked by controversy, including accusations from former correspondents of “60 Minutes” that she tried to influence the program politically. (CBS News has denied this.)
Anderson Cooper, the most recognizable anchor at CNN, who quit a separate, longtime gig at “60 Minutes” a few months into Ms. Weiss’s tenure, has been particularly put off by her leadership, and told associates at CNN that he did not want to work for her.
CNN is on track to earn $650 million in profit this year, making the network a crucial generator of revenue for Mr. Ellison’s combined media empire, which will be saddled with $80 billion in debt.
As part of a settlement with a group of states who sued to block Paramount’s deal with Warner Bros. Discovery over antitrust concerns, Mr. Ellison agreed to create a board that ensures journalists at CNN and CBS News have the authority to make decisions without interference from corporate executives.
Mr. Thompson is visiting California this week, where he was spotted at the Paramount lot on Thursday, according to two people told of his visit. CNN hosted a debate in Burbank on Wednesday between the state’s gubernatorial candidates.
The Wall Street Journal earlier reported that Mr. Thompson was in negotiations to stay at CNN.
Paramount’s plans to cut billions in costs has raised fears at CNN and CBS News that the deal could result in significant layoffs. Any attempt to combine those two networks could be tricky because unlike at CNN, a large portion of the CBS News work force is unionized.
CNN is not without its challenges. The network’s profitability has slid in recent years, from more than $1 billion in 2016 to roughly $650 million today. It has lately been fighting a ban imposed by President Trump to exclude its journalists from certain key White House events. CNN also trails Fox News, the longtime ratings leader, and MS NOW in overall audience, although it is ahead of MS NOW in the viewer demographic that matters most to advertisers.
Mr. Thompson, a previous chief executive of The New York Times, has focused less on traditional TV viewership than on creating a digital subscriber business at CNN, where he installed a paywall and created new paid products. The network has launched a weather app, is working on a new product focused on health and is expanding its subscription offering in the UK and Canada before the midterm elections.
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