![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/555c7acf-be9b-4ac0-91d9-d7456a7d3502-David-Ellison-Paramount.jpg\"\/)
Paramount CEO David Ellison is the son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who Forbes says has a net worth of more than US$185 billion. (AFP pic)
\nWASHINGTON: Paramount CEO David Ellison said Tuesday that the legal battle over his proposed multibillion-dollar takeover of Warner Bros Discovery was fuelled by politics rather than concerns over market share.<\/p>\n
His remarks in an opinion piece published in The New York Times came as a federal judge set a March 2027 trial date for the antitrust challenges to the megamerger.<\/p>\n
Ellison\u2019s Paramount Skydance agreed late last month to delay its US$110 billion merger with Warner Bros to June 2027 while the US lawsuit seeking to block the deal moves forward.<\/p>\n
If the merger eventually closes, the new combined company would reshape the entertainment and media industry, in addition to delivering a major win to its owners, the Ellison family, who are close allies of US president Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
If the deal doesn\u2019t close, the Ellison family could be on the hook for billions in kill fees.<\/p>\n
In a combative op-ed, Ellison argued that the fight over the deal \u201cis not really about market share.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe issue is whether I can be trusted as a steward of Warner\u2019s CNN. There has been speculation about my politics, my loyalties, my intentions,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
In their complaint against the deal, 12 Democratic-led US states claim the combined company would control roughly 27% of wide-release theatrical film distribution and a similar percentage of basic cable channel licensing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are eager to continue to make our case in court\u2026 to ensure this unlawful merger never sees the light of day,\u201d California attorney general Rob Bonta said in a statement last month.<\/p>\n
The deal would include CNN, one of the largest US cable news networks and a frequent target of Trump\u2019s insults and attacks over coverage critical of his administration.<\/p>\n
On June 12 the Trump administration approved the blockbuster deal without demanding a single change, clearing the way for one of the largest media mergers in years.<\/p>\n
Ellison argued that he held views across the political spectrum, \u201cjust like most Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it comes to our news operations, I do not aspire to lead these companies to bend their newsrooms to my views,\u201d he said. \u201cI believe that news should be based on facts and truth.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ellison\u2019s Skydance acquired CBS News in mid-2025, with the major US broadcaster reaching a US$16 million settlement with Trump over coverage of presidential candidate Kamala Harris in the same period.<\/p>\n
Shortly after CBS became a part of Paramount Skydance, the company brought in Bari Weiss \u2013 a longstanding critic of progressive politics \u2013 to lead its news division.<\/p>\n
Many CBS News journalists quit following Weiss\u2019s appointment, alleging curbs on their editorial independence.<\/p>\n
David Ellison is the son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who Forbes says has a net worth of more than US$185 billion, making him the seventh richest person in the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paramount CEO David Ellison is the son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who Forbes says has a net…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[167],"tags":[813,1072,25966,6946,51,107,4379],"class_list":["post-178204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-larry-ellison","tag-larry-ellison","tag-media","tag-merger","tag-paramount","tag-politics","tag-us","tag-warner-bros"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/117039975945529645","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}