Mark Thompson isn’t going anywhere.
David Ellison is keeping CNN’s top executive in place as Paramount buys Warner Bros. Discovery, the news giant’s parent company. The merger will put CNN and CBS News under one corporate roof.
Thompson, who’s led CNN since October 2023, told staffers on Monday that he’s staying at the network. His title will be chairman and editor-in-chief.
“I’m convinced that from David Ellison on down, Paramount Skydance leadership really does believe in news alongside entertainment as a top strategic opportunity for our new company,” Thompson said in a memo obtained by Business Insider.
Thompson told employees he has “real confidence” that Ellison will “understand and will fully support the principle and practice of the kind of independent news that CNN has always stood for.”
The future of CNN — and particularly its editorial independence — was a hot political topic ahead of the $110 billion mega-merger of Paramount and WBD. Critics were concerned Ellison and his father, Larry — the Oracle billionaire and longtime Trump ally — could bend the operation to be more favorable to the president. Ellison has broadly denied that he’s interested in interfering politically in news.
As part of the settlement of an antitrust lawsuit brought by 12 states, Paramount will create an independent editorial board to monitor editorial principles at both CNN and CBS News. It will report to the combined entity’s corporate board through its chief compliance officer.
Thompson said in his memo that leadership at Ellison’s new-look media giant had “seen our digital strategy and are as excited about it as we are.”
CNN’s top boss previously told staffers not to assume that the network would combine with CBS News after Paramount completed the WBD deal.
“Don’t jump to conclusions that we become one with CBS News,” CNN CEO Mark Thompson had told staffers at a September town hall, a person familiar with the meeting said.
Ellison shook up CBS News by hiring Bari Weiss as the network’s top editor last October.
Weiss, a former New York Times opinion editor who hadn’t previously worked in TV news, has critiqued the mainstream media and is known for her anti-woke views. She has faced accusations of editorial interference and political bias from former CBS News employees, which she has denied.
Paramount CEO David Ellison hasn’t said much about how CNN and CBS News will operate under common ownership. The media mogul has expressed interest in building a “scaled news service,” though he hasn’t publicly given specifics.
Besides CNN and CBS News, the combined company will house assets including two major movie studios, HBO, HBO Max, Paramount+, Pluto TV, and a slew of cable TV channels. Paramount said it expects the deal to close on Tuesday.
Read Thompson’s full memo to CNN employees below:
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