Paramount Skydance mulls CNN sale amid antitrust merger challenge

Paramount Skydance is reportedly considering the sale of CNN as part of an effort to resolve an antitrust lawsuit challenging its proposed $110bn merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.

On Tuesday, at Politico’s Agenda California conference, Paramount’s chief legal officer, Makan Delrahim, said a potential sale was on the table as 12 states led by California sued to block the merger.

He stressed that Paramount Skydance had been “transparent” and was willing to work with both Republicans and Democrats to move the merger forward.

“We’re not naive to know that politics does not exist,” said Delrahim, who served as an antitrust official during US President Donald Trump’s first term.

The potential sale comes as Ellison faces scrutiny over his promises to preserve CNN’s editorial independence if the merger goes through. Ellison, whose father is Oracle cofounder and prominent Trump ally Larry Ellison, has sought to reassure critics that he would not interfere with CNN’s journalism, including in a New York Times op-ed last week in which he promised to preserve the network’s independence.

But those assurances echo promises Ellison made before Paramount Skydance took control of CBS News nearly a year ago, according to CNN media analyst Brian Stelter.

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

CBS has since faced accusations of a rightward editorial shift under Weiss’s leadership, including the shelving of a 60 Minutes investigation into Trump’s deportation policy, a major overhaul of the news magazine programme and a primetime town hall with Erika Kirk, the widow of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk who was killed last September.