Senior White House officials have discussed internally their preference for Paramount Skydance to acquire Warner Bros Discovery, and one official has discussed potential programming changes at CNN with Larry Ellison, the largest shareholder of Paramount, according to people familiar with the matter.
The discussions come as Paramount positions itself as the best bid for Warner Bros Discovery, which announced last month it was open to offers. In at least one phone call, Ellison engaged in a dialogue about possibly axing some CNN hosts whom Donald Trump is said to dislike, including Erin Burnett and Brianna Keilar, the people said.
The conversation also touched on floating names to replace Burnett and the possibility of running CBS assets like its flagship 60 Minutes programme on CNN air – proposals that have animated the White House. The call was described as informal since Ellison does not have a formal role at Paramount, though he holds a major ownership stake in the company run by his son, David Ellison.
Spokespeople for the White House and CNN declined to comment. The elder Ellison, Oracle and Paramount did not respond to repeated requests for comment. The behind-the-scenes lobbying efforts underscore the Ellisons' intense interest in acquiring Warner Bros Discovery and the White House's interest in seeing its preferred bid succeed.
Paramount is preparing a bid for the entirety of Warner Bros Discovery ahead of a 20 November deadline to submit non-binding first-round bids. Trump already has a positive view of the Ellisons after Paramount paid a $16m settlement to the president over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris last year.
Former antitrust division officials who served in Trump's second term suggested they did not immediately see competition issues with a Paramount bid. Brendan Carr, the Federal Communications Commission chair, said a Paramount acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery would be very unlikely to require any review by his commission.
