Paramount Skydance weighs selling CNN amid antitrust fight over Warner Bros. Discovery merger

Paramount Skydance is reportedly considering selling CNN as part of efforts to resolve the antitrust lawsuit tied to its $110 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD).

At Politico's Agenda California conference on Tuesday, Paramount's chief legal officer, Makan Delrahim, confirmed that selling CNN is among the options under discussion, as a coalition of 12 states, led by California, has filed suit to block the deal.

Delrahim stressed that Paramount Skydance has been “transparent” and is willing to work with both Republicans and Democrats to push the deal forward. “We are not naive enough not to know that politics always exists,” he said. Delrahim served as the top antitrust official during the first Trump administration.

Editorial independence pledges face scrutiny

The consideration of selling CNN comes as David Ellison, head of Paramount Skydance, faces criticism over his commitment to preserving CNN's editorial independence if the deal closes. Ellison, son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, a close Trump ally, has sought to reassure critics that he will not meddle with CNN's journalism, including through an op-ed in The New York Times last week.

However, CNN media analyst Brian Stelter noted that these pledges echo promises Ellison made before Paramount Skydance took control of CBS News nearly a year ago.

CBS subsequently hired Bari Weiss, a right-leaning commentator with no television experience, to lead CBS News. CBS also appointed Kenneth Weinstein, a former Trump administration official, as an ombudsman to investigate allegations of bias.

CBS has since faced accusations of a rightward editorial shift under Weiss, including shelving a 60 Minutes investigation into Trump's deportation policies, overhauling the news programming, and hosting a town hall with Erika Kirk, widow of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.

Prominent anchors such as Anderson Cooper and Scott Pelley have also left or been let go from the network since Weiss's arrival.

Core issues of the lawsuit

While selling CNN might address some concerns about political influence over the network, it is not central to the lawsuit filed by California and 11 other states to block the merger.

Delrahim confirmed reports that Paramount is considering moving operations out of California amid the litigation, adding political pressure ahead of the state's gubernatorial election.

“If I were governor, I wouldn't want to lose Hollywood from the state. I wouldn't want to lose a major company like Paramount to another state,” Delrahim said.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA), which opposes the merger, criticized Paramount's threat to leave California. “By threatening to leave the state because they don't want the government to enforce the law, Paramount is further demonstrating the danger of their outsized power over the industry and what it means for writers and creative communities. This behavior is exactly why the merger should be blocked,” the WGA said in a statement.

Seth Stern, advocacy director at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, argued that selling CNN would not resolve broader concerns. “The attorneys general's lawsuit is an antitrust case that has nothing to do with CNN, so selling CNN won't settle it. It also won't address the separate censorship concerns from free speech activists,” Stern told Al Jazeera.

“HBO documentaries and even Hollywood films rely on strong First Amendment rights that have never been compromised through backroom deals with the government. The merger and the blatant corruption surrounding it are bad for Paramount, bad for journalism, and bad for the public,” he added.

The lawsuit alleges that combining the studios would lead to fewer consumer choices and fewer career opportunities for television and film workers. California Attorney General Rob Bonta warned that the combined company would control 27% of theatrical films in the U.S. market as well as the basic cable television distribution system.

On Wall Street, Paramount Skydance shares rose 1.1% in midday trading while Warner Bros. Discovery shares gained 1.4%.