Paramount CEO David Ellison said on Monday he wants a combined CNN-CBS news operation to serve as “a scaled news service that is basically, fundamentally, in the trust business” as his company launches a hostile takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery to compete with Netflix’s $82.7 billion bid.
Ellison told CNBC’s David Faber that he wanted the combined news service to speak to “the 70% of Americans that are in the middle,” echoing his public vision for the Bari Weiss-led CBS News. Ellison also sidestepped Faber’s query about whether President Donald Trump, a vocal CNN critic, “embraces the idea of you being the owner of CNN.”
“We’ve had great conversations with the president about this,” Ellison said. “I don’t want to speak for him in any way, shape or form.”
CNN did not respond to an immediate request for comment.
Former CNN president Jon Klein told TheWrap that he suspected that Paramount “still sees value in combining CNN with CBS News,” even as Netflix announced on Friday its $82.7 billion purchase of WBD’s studio and streaming businesses.
Still, Trump has cast doubt on the Ellison-led company’s news judgment. He lashed out at CBS News’ “60 Minutes” on Monday over an interview aired Sunday with his latest enemy, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), questioning why the network allowed it to air.
“My real problem with the show, however, wasn’t the low IQ traitor, it was that the new ownership of 60 Minutes, Paramount, would allow a show like this to air,” Trump wrote. “THEY ARE NO BETTER THAN THE OLD OWNERSHIP, who just paid me millions of Dollars for FAKE REPORTING about your favorite President, ME!”
Trump also told reporters on Sunday he’d “be involved” in the government’s consideration of Netflix’s Warner Bros. purchase, though he has maintained friendlier relations with the Ellison family than Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos.
Watch a clip of Ellison’s interview in the video below.
