The U.S. Justice Department announced Friday that Paramount Skydance has received approval to move forward with its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The deal marks a tectonic shift in the American media landscape, leading to a further reduction in the number of major players in the industry and a massive increase in the influence of the Ellison family.
In its press release announcing the approval, the DoJ rejected the arguments against the merger. It denied that Disney’s acquisition of Fox a few years ago could be used as a case study, citing the COVID-19 pandemic as an intervening factor that makes the comparison controversial. It also rejected labor concerns that have been widely raised by industry workers. On June 9, it was reported that the United Kingdom was conducting its own investigation into the deal, a factor that may have pushed up the DoJ’s deadline.
With the acquisition of Warner and its affiliated brands, Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison will run the historic Warner Bros. studios, as well as HBO and its streaming counterpart HBO Max. CNN Worldwide, a major broadcast rights holder for the Olympics and the NHL, is also included in the deal, as is Warner Bros. Games. The company already owned Paramount and its TV subsidiaries, including CBS, MTV, BET and Nickelodeon. David Ellison’s father, billionaire Larry Ellison, is reportedly providing $45.7 billion worth of equity for the deal. The elder Ellison is the owner of Oracle, a major provider of server infrastructure. Oracle recently joined a consortium of investors to buy a 45% stake in the US operations of popular short-form video platform TikTok. Together, the father-son duo now control a media portfolio to rival Disney. (The senior Ellison’s daughter, Megan Ellison, has her own media venture that is independent from the father-son duo’s portfolio.)
The DOJ’s approval of the deal comes after a series of scandals at CBS News, raising fears about CNN’s future. Larry Ellison is a personal friend of President Donald Trump, who has suggested that CNN’s current leadership is “corrupt and incompetent”. With Ellison in control of Paramount, Bari Weiss was installed as the head of CBS News, and he wasted no time in dismantling the legacy news organization. Now, the fear is that CNN may meet the same fate.
Recently, Weiss was fired 60 minutes Correspondent Scott Pelley, a decision that led to Pelley remaining 60 minutes The staff would have to speak out, with Pelley claiming the prestigious news show was being “killed” by Weiss. A 60 minutes The report on conditions at ICE facilities was rejected in December, and correspondent Cecilia Vega was fired in May while she was working on a report about Francesca Albanese, the UN special envoy on the occupied Palestinian territories, who was sanctioned by the US. Vega’s journalism work was withheld from him during the firing, raising concerns that his sources might be exposed by CBS.
Under Ellison’s control, CBS also moved to cancel Late Show with Stephen ColbertParamount Skydance claimed the decision was driven solely by financial realities, but it came after a Colbert segment that explicitly criticized the $16 million settlement CBS paid President Trump.
In May, more than 5,500 film and television industry professionals signed an open letter warning that Paramount’s acquisition of Warner would “threaten the stability of the entire creative community.” Signatories include Glenn Close, Jane Fonda, Joaquin Phoenix, Kevin Bacon and many other household Hollywood names.
While DoJ approval was the biggest hurdle for this landmark deal, state attorneys general in California and New York have signaled their intention to bring challenges against it, in addition to the investigation by European authorities and the aforementioned investigation by the UK. Paramount Skydance has until September 30 to officially close the deal, before it will be subject to a daily tick fee of $7 million for Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders.
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