CNN officially has a new corporate owner after David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance completed its blockbuster takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery on Tuesday, placing the cable news network under the same corporate roof as CBS News.
The roughly $110 billion transaction, including debt, creates a sprawling entertainment company encompassing CNN, CBS, HBO, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., Paramount+, HBO Max and some of Hollywood’s best-known film and television franchises.
The combined company will operate under the Skydance name, with Ellison serving as chairman and CEO alongside co-CEO Ynon Kreiz, the former head of Mattel. Shares of the new company began trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “SKYD.”
The transaction gives Ellison control of CNN, one of President Donald Trump’s most frequent media targets. Ellison’s father, billionair Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, provided significant financial backing for his son’s rapid expansion into the media industry.
The elder Ellison has also maintained a relationship with Trump and supported Republican political causes, a connection that has generated considerable political attention as the family has expanded its media holdings.
David Ellison previously acquired Paramount through an $8 billion deal completed in 2025 before turning his attention to Warner Bros. Discovery. Paramount eventually prevailed in a bidding battle for Warner after the company had initially reached an agreement with Netflix.
The Warner acquisition dramatically expands Ellison’s influence. Skydance now controls both CNN and CBS News, as well as the Warner Bros. and Paramount movie studios. Its entertainment properties include franchises such as “Harry Potter,” DC Comics, “Mission: Impossible,” “Top Gun” and “The Godfather.”
The transaction underwent months of regulatory scrutiny and legal challenges before receiving the approvals necessary to close. The Justice Department concluded after an eight-month investigation that the merger was unlikely to harm competition.
A coalition of 12 states separately challenged the transaction but ultimately reached a settlement with Paramount. Under that agreement, Skydance committed to increased U.S. film production, worker protections and the creation of an editorial independence board covering CNN and CBS News.
Despite the ownership change, CNN will not immediately receive new editorial leadership. CNN Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Mark Thompson will remain in charge of the network and report to Ellison and Kreiz.
“I have real confidence that they both understand and will fully support the principle and practice of the kind of independent news that CNN has always stood for,” Thompson told employees ahead of the merger.
CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss will also remain in her position. The structure appears to rule out, at least initially, speculation that CNN and CBS News could be combined into a single news operation. Ellison has publicly pledged to protect CNN’s editorial independence.
“CNN is an incredible brand with an incredible team,” Ellison said earlier this year, adding that Skydance believes in maintaining the independence of its journalists. Trump, meanwhile, has repeatedly criticized CNN’s coverage throughout his political career and publicly weighed in on the network’s future during the Warner Bros. bidding battle.
“I think the people that have run CNN for the last long period of time are a disgrace,” Trump said in December, adding that he believed it was “imperative that CNN be sold.”
Other administration officials have made similar comments. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a dispute over CNN’s reporting in June that “the sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.”
The political connections surrounding the deal prompted criticism from congressional Democrats, who questioned whether Trump’s administration expected changes in CNN’s coverage in exchange for regulatory approval.
