According to reports, if authorities approved Paramount’s $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros., Paramount chairman Larry Ellison would fire CNN anchors that the president didn’t like. Discovery, per a recently discovered court document.
Two press freedom organisations that own stock in Paramount Skydance, Freedom of the Press Foundation and Reporters Without Borders, made the shocking accusation.
The organisations expressed a “credible concern” that Paramount executives might have given Trump political favours in return for favourable treatment from federal regulators in a 19-page demand addressed to the company’s chief legal officer, Makan Delrahim.
According to allegations cited in the letter, Ellison talked with White House officials about intentions to include CNN in the Warner transaction and then “implement the CBS playbook” at the network by making significant staffing and editorial changes.
According to reports, this involved eliminating analysts and anchors that Trump dislikes. CNN should be sold or “turned off,” according to Trump, who has long denounced the network as “fake news.”
According to the organisations, Paramount might have provided “more favourable coverage of the Trump administration and its allies in exchange for favourable treatment by Trump administration antitrust and media regulators.”
They claim that if the arrangement is real, it may violate a fiduciary obligation and subject Paramount to criminal and civil fines under anti-corruption and bribery laws.
The takeover was approved by Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders last month, and the biggest obstacles to the deal’s acceptance are antitrust and Federal Communications Commission approval.
According to reports, Larry Ellison assured President Donald Trump that if authorities approved Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, he would fire CNN anchors the president didn’t like.
Trump has frequently referred to CNN as “fake news” and declared that it ought to be “turned off” or sold.
The disputed July 2025 settlement of Trump’s lawsuit over a 60-minute interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris is also discussed in the letter.
Despite some executives’ expressed concerns that the gift would be interpreted as a bribe, Paramount agreed to provide $16 million to a foundation for Trump’s prospective presidential library.
The organisations also referenced Trump’s assertion that he personally negotiated a different “side deal” with David Ellison in which Paramount would contribute an extra $15 million to $20 million in advertising to help organisations that are significant to him.
The filing claims that Paramount has already implemented significant adjustments at CBS News that seem to be intended to placate Trump and his supporters.
These actions include purchasing The Free Press for $150 million, designating founder Bari Weiss as top editor of CBS News, and creating a conservative ombudsman to oversee alleged bias.
The organisations point out that Paramount’s stock price dropped from $19.13 in October 2025 to $10.80 in May 2026 and claim that these choices hurt CBS’s brand and shareholder value.
The $7.7 billion purchase Paramount made for the domestic broadcasting rights to Ultimate Fighting Championship, whose CEO Dana White is one of Trump’s closest pals, is also questioned in the letter.
Additionally, once Paramount revealed that post-merger indirect foreign ownership may reach roughly 49.5 percent, the groups expressed concerns regarding foreign investment in the Warner acquisition.
If regulators accept the proposed $111 billion merger, CNN will become part of Paramount.
The takeover was authorised by Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders in April, with regulatory approval being one of the last obstacles.
Press freedom organisations are requesting access to Paramount’s internal documents because they believe the firm did favours to gain permission from the Trump administration.
The two groups are requesting board minutes, emails, texts, and correspondence with government representatives concerning the Warner acquisition, the Trump settlement, and any internal CNN preparations.
Paramount has five business days to reply to the request for records under Delaware law. The organisations claim they are ready to file a lawsuit in Delaware and demand legal expenses if it declines.
Reporters Without Borders North America’s executive director, Clayton Weimers, told the Daily Mail that the organization is worried that the Trump administration has “clearly and publicly put its thumb on the scales in favour of Paramount,” implying that it expects the company’s new leadership to be politically advantageous to the White House.
Weimers stated that CNN, a regular target of Trump’s assaults, is one of the organization’s “biggest concerns.” “We’ve already seen how David Ellison compromised the editorial independence at CBS News since taking it over,” Weimers added.
Large media mergers, he continued, can undermine press freedom by decreasing the variety of perspectives in the marketplace and resulting in layoffs.
A request for response was not immediately answered by Paramount.
For additional comment, Daily Mail has also reached out to The White House, Larry Ellison, and the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
