The Ellisons nab Warner and CNN in the biggest leveraged buy-out in history.
Where does the Paramount Skydance Warner Bros. Discovery merger leave CNN? What else might Netflix buy and more.
As CNNers swing through the doors of Hudson Yards this morning they’ll be choking on their matcha lattes at the armageddon that awaits them after last night’s bombshell news that Paramount Skydance has won the bidding for their owner Warner Bros. Discovery. They’ll hear more today from the Warner CEO David Zaslav at a Town Hall.
Just three months ago I wrote that Warner had accepted a winning bid from Netflix and that CNN would be transferred into a separately spun-off venture carrying most of the company’s debt. Things change fast in the media business. Charlie Gasparino, the Fox Business anchor who has been covering every twist of this deal, seemed to confirm everyone’s assumptions that Bari Weiss, the controversial 41 year-old in charge at CBS News, is poised to run CNN too. CNN’s current boss Mark Thompson told staff in a memo to not “jump to conclusions until we know more.”
