NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
CNN is on the brink of having yet another new owner and, as of this moment, it’s anyone’s guess as to who it’ll be.
In October, CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery announced it was putting itself up for sale. It previously said it was going to split into two companies — one for the studio and HBO, the other being the cable networks currently within the corporate umbrella.
Before Netflix emerged last week as the victor of the bidding war, it had seemed that Paramount owner David Ellison was in the driver’s seat, only to be offroaded by the streaming giant on Friday with its nearly $83 billion offer. On Monday, Paramount launched a $108 billion hostile takeover bid for the entire company, including its cable assets like CNN.
“I think there is a very small contingent who wants Paramount… most do not,” one CNN staffer told Fox News Digital.
Warner Bros. Discovery is in the middle of a tense bidding war between Paramount and Netflix. (Mike Blake/Reuters)
Leading up to the corporate drama that has unfolded in recent days, CNN’s rank and file were not exactly leaping for joy about the prospects of Ellison becoming their new boss.
“I don’t think most like it because they fear him meddling,” the CNN staffer said of Ellison.
A second CNN staffer noted the “grim” mood within the newsroom regarding Ellison.
“They see CBS as a complete and utter s— show, which it was before this to be honest,” the CNN staffer told Fox News Digital, while conceding “our organization is also in chaos and crisis.”
CNN staffers are worried that the network will face “a complete and utter s— show” as they view CBS News as being in if Paramount owner David Ellison buys Warner Bros. Discovery. (Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)
In August, Ellison took over Paramount as part of its $8 billion merger with Skydance Media. The deal was plagued by politics as Paramount settled President Donald Trump‘s election interference lawsuit against the company over CBS News’ handling of the “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
Liberal critics accused Paramount of “bending the knee” to Trump in order for his FCC to approve the merger. They also expressed outrage over CBS’ cancellation of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” which will stop airing after May 2026. The network insisted it was purely a financial decision, though critics believe it was also tied to the FCC-approved merger.
CBS News, the perpetual third place broadcaster behind ABC News and NBC News’ weekday programming, has undergone some major changes in Ellison’s first few months as its owner, from implementing a brutal round of layoffs, tapping Bari Weiss as the network’s editor-in-chief, to pushing out “CBS Evening News” anchors John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois. Weiss is reportedly eying “CBS Mornings” co-host Tony Dokoupil to take the chair.
SENATE GEARS UP FOR ‘INTENSE’ ANTITRUST HEARING IN WAKE OF NETFLIX, WARNER BROS DEAL
Critics say Paramount settled President Donald Trump’s election interference lawsuit in order to pave the way for the company’s $8 billion merger with Skydance Media. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
CNN staffers fear that the editorial reshaping of CBS News by Ellison and Weiss would impact their own newsroom if Paramount buys Warner Bros. Discovery. They also worry about a potential “bloodbath” among leadership if CBS News and CNN were to merge.
“They like editorial independence, and I think the reports of what CBS has gone through suggests that may not be the case where there to be a Paramount takeover,” the first CNN staffer said.
During a CNBC interview on Monday, Ellison was asked whether he would combine CNN and CBS News’ newsgathering operations. He dodged the question, speaking instead about the broader goal he has for news, which is getting into the “trust” and “truth business” that “speaks to the 70% of Americans in the middle, a sentiment previously echoed by Weiss.
However, the Wall Street Journal reported that Ellison had told Trump officials that he’d make sweeping changes to CNN if he became its owner, and that Trump has been vocal about wanting CNN to have new ownership that will make programming changes.
“I think everyone wants to be fair,” the CNN staffer said. “I don’t think [CNN colleagues] see Ellison as trying to target the political middle. I think they think he is kowtowing to Trump.”
Trump himself has so far had a more agnostic approach to the bidding war despite his reported coziness with Ellison and his billionaire father Larry Ellison. Last week, he praised Netflix as a “great company” and called its CEO Ted Sarandos a “fantastic man” but expressed concern about its market share. On Monday, he refrained from saying he supported Paramount’s bid despite it being partially financed by his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s private equity firm Affinity Partners, something Trump told reporters he hadn’t discussed with Kushner about.
Meanwhile, Trump blasted Paramount over the “60 Minutes” interview featuring ally-turned-foe Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., writing on Truth Social the new ownership is “NO BETTER THAN THE OLD OWNERSHIP.”
One CNN staffer says the mood is “grim” over the prospect of David Ellison becoming the network’s new owner. ( Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
CNN has repeatedly been orphaned by corporate parents for years, from Time Warner in the 90s, to AOL in the early 2000s, to AT&T in 2018, leading to its 2022 spinoff of Warner Bros. Discovery led by CEO David Zaslav.
“I remember when AT&T was seen as horrific. Looking back, it’s the best owner we’ve had in a decade,” the second CNN staffer said. “They left us alone. That’s all any news organization wants. They plowed money into us. And yeah, Zaslav dumped CNN+ on like the second day or whatever. But AT&T put in 600 million bucks.”
Not everyone at CNN is hitting the panic button on Ellison. The second staffer told Fox News Digital that they’ll be “open-minded” if he takes over. The staffer also called Weiss “very thoughtful and very confident,” which could be a “very good combo.”
“I hope I’ll be pleasantly surprised,” they said.
Media pundits have speculated whether Bari Weiss, CBS News’ newly-appointed editor-in-chief, would also oversee the CNN newsroom if Ellison’s bid for Warner Bros. Discovery is successful. (Noam Galai/Getty Images for The Free Press)
A third CNN staffer suggested that Paramount buying the network would be the better outcome versus being spun off if Netflix buys Warner Bros. and being “totally chopped to pieces and whittled to the bone private equity style.”
Regardless, the agony of CNN’s unknown future is only fueling anxiety in the newsroom.
“Most people have no idea what will happen… The uncertainty is the worst of all,” the first CNN staffer said.
Representatives for CNN and Warner Bros. Discovery did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment. A spokesperson for Paramount declined to comment.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
