@Moe Looks like the WSJ corrborated NY Post's coverage on Trump's 60 Minutes settlement for the Redstones's Paramount Global sale and dived further into Larry's CNN overhaul pledge for Skydance's WarnerDiscovery pursuit at an Oval Office meeting:
"Behind the scenes, the younger Ellison was growing frustrated as he awaited regulatory approval for the merger, and Paramount negotiated a high-stakes settlement with Trump. The president had filed a lawsuit against Paramount’s CBS for its news division’s allegedly deceptive editing of an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
Around that time, David Ellison called Barbara Byrne, a Paramount director, expressing his frustration because he was eager for the merger to close and said he had heard that it would take $49.5 million to settle, people close to the situation said. Byrne told Ellison they shouldn’t be talking and informed Paramount’s counsel and the board, the people said.
“David called to vent about how protracted the settlement process had become—there was no intent to transmit information, intervene, or collude in the settlement,” Byrne said in a statement. “In fact, the settlement negotiations were well-known to us, as the company was negotiating via outside legal counsel with the plaintiff’s counsel through a mediator.”
In July 2025, Paramount settled for $16 million. The merger was approved by regulators soon after.
By late 2025, with Paramount under its control, the Ellison family turned its attention to Warner Bros. Discovery. Netflix reached an agreement to acquire the storied Hollywood studio in December. Soon after, Larry Ellison called Trump, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Paramount made a competing offer, and the pursuit dragged on for months. At one point, Larry Ellison told Trump that if Paramount landed the Warner deal, it could overhaul CNN. Both men aren’t fans of the cable news channel, believing it is biased toward liberal news and against the administration, according to people familiar with the matter.
“President Trump has consistently maintained that he was neutral to all parties throughout the Warner Bros. Discovery bidding process,” Desai, the White House spokesman, said.
A spokeswoman for Paramount said, “No commitments from either David or Larry Ellison have been made to any government body, State AG or federal agency regarding the future of CNN or any other news property, other than the goal to deliver truth-based journalism.”"
