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Following an increased re-bid from Paramount Skydance to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery, the online streaming service company Netflix has bowed out of the running.
The decision, made on Thursday, means that Paramount Skydance will likely be approved for the purchase of the company, whose portfolio includes the news organization CNN.
In a joint statement, Netflix co-chief executives Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters explained their reasoning for not starting a new bidding war.
“We’ve always been disciplined, and at the price required to match Paramount Skydance’s latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive, so we are declining to match the Paramount Skydance bid,” the two said.
The purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery — for a reported $111 billion — comes just six months after Skydance took over Paramount, turning it into the “Paramount Skydance” brand. The company is overseen by CEO David Ellison, son of billionaire Larry Ellison, who is friends with Trump, leading some critics to speculate that an approval of the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery could be fast-tracked or lack sufficient scrutiny.
Notably, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the purchase of Paramount shortly after that company had agreed to pay a $16 million settlement directly to Trump, after the president had dubiously accused CBS News of campaign interference for edits it made in a 2024 interview with Kamala Harris during a segment on “60 Minutes.”
In November, a federal appeals court rejected a similar lawsuit brought by Trump against CNN, finding that the president’s allegations were “meritless.” It’s possible that Trump could bring a new lawsuit against CNN, and that a similar settlement could be negotiated before the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount Skydance happens.
There’s also concern about the editorial direction CNN could take after the purchase happens. After Paramount was bought by Skydance, David Ellison picked conservative opinion journalist Bari Weiss to be CBS News’s editor-in-chief.
Since entering that role, Weiss has moved the network in a noticeably far right, pro-Trump direction. Her actions have included:
- Delaying a segment on “60 Minutes” relating to the Trump administration’s deportation policies, a move that journalists at the network derided as a “political” decision;
- Gutting the long-revered climate news division at the network, a move that will deprioritize any mention of the climate crisis in its weather-related stories;
- Placing her own “The Free Press” right-wing news website at the top of CBSNews.com;
- And appointing right-wing, MAGA-friendly Tony Dokoupil, who previously served as the network’s morning co-anchor, as host of the CBS “Evening News” program.
The moves have led to a drop in ratings for the network and a pro-Trump slant in its coverage.
The uncertainty of CNN’s future prompted CEO Mark Thompson to write a letter to his employees yesterday, encouraging them not to make any brash decisions based on news of the pending acquisition of their parent company.
“Despite all the speculation you’ve read during this process, I’d suggest that you don’t jump to conclusions about the future until we know more,” Thompson told CNN staff.
The acquisition is not yet a done deal — some Democratic lawmakers have expressed misgivings regarding the deal, taking note of the troubling consolidation of media.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D), for example, said that the state Department of Justice “has an open investigation” on the matter, adding that “we intend to be vigorous in our review.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) also expressed doubts about Paramount Skydance’s moves to buy Warner Bros. Discovery.
“A Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. merger is an antitrust disaster threatening higher prices and fewer choices for American families,” Warren said in a statement, adding:
A handful of Trump-aligned billionaires are trying to seize control of what you watch and charge you whatever price they want. 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.
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