Trump Gets More Power as Warner Bros. Agrees to Merge With Paramount

Warner Bros. shareholders on Thursday approved the company’s $81 billion sale to Paramount, in a massive merger that will seriously alter the media landscape and give Trump-backed billionaire David Ellison even more control over multiple large outlets. The deal will give Ellison’s Paramount Skydance—the parent company of CBS News, Paramount Pictures, BET, MTV, Nickelodeon, and more—ownership of HBO and HBO Max, Warner Bros.’ movie and TV studios, DC, CNN, TBS, TNT, HGTV and Discovery+. David Ellison is the son of Larry Ellison, a Trump supporter, staunch Zionist, and billionaire founder of Oracle, which holds a significant stake in TikTok’s U.S. operations. The father-son duo have been outspoken about their desire to regulate media narratives via TikTok, CBS, and now, CNN.The merger has been supported by both the Trump administration and the pro-Israel right for the duration of negotiations.In November, President Trump and Larry Ellison met to discuss which CNN hosts to fire if Ellison acquired the media company in the merger. And just last month, after CNN reported the Trump administration underestimated how the war on Iran would impact the Strait of Hormuz, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth proclaimed, “the sooner David Ellison takes over, the better.”Media literacy and awareness will become all the more crucial as the deal becomes official, and the Ellison influence spreads from TikTok and CBS to HBO, CNN, and even HGTV. “A handful of Trump-aligned billionaires are trying to seize control of what you watch and charge you whatever price they want,” Senator Elizabeth Warren said of the merger in February. “With the cloud of corruption looming over Trump’s Department of Justice, it’ll be up to the American people to speak up and state attorneys general to enforce the law.” This story has been updated.