david ellison

David Ellison emerged with his prized Hollywood juggernaut Tuesday as the merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery officially closed.

The $111-billion transaction culminated a year-long battle by the 43-year-old tech scion to add Warner Bros. Discovery to his family’s growing portfolio.

The Ellison family now controls one of the largest traditional media companies ever formed, with HBO, CNN, CBS, Comedy Central, TBS, Food Network, two traditional Hollywood studios and two major streaming services.

Shares of the new company began trading under the ticker SKYD, a switch from last week when the company went by PSKY for Paramount Skydance. Ellison has called the merged company, Skydance, the name he selected two decades ago when he began building his Hollywood studio.

This is a developing story.

What a surprise. David Ellison has decided to name the Frankenstudio media company created by the merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery simply Skydance.

And why not? “Massive Debt Funding Media” doesn’t really roll off the tongue (though “Ultra Leveraged” has a nice ring); “Ellison and Dad” is a bit too on the nose; and “Skydance” is, after all, the name he chose for the one company out of those four that he built rather than bought.

Skydance is a poetic term with some definite “Star Wars” overtones and perhaps unintentional symbolism. Before the aviation-loving Ellison claimed it, “sky dance” referred to the aerial mating of certain birds, most famously the American woodcock, also known as the timberdoodle or (I’m not making this up) the bogsucker.

(“Timberdoodle Media,” now that’s a splendid name, and “Bogsucker Productions” could work as well.)

In his attempts to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, Ellison has certainly engaged in some high-flying … well, courtship might not be the right term for the dizzying mix of cajoling and threats he has employed to get the deal done, and it certainly does not seem fair to the American woodcock. I’m no expert, but I don’t think their mating rituals involve using the New York Times to plead their case or, when that doesn’t work, threatening to move en masse to Tennessee.

For those inexplicably hoping for ParaBros, Skydance seems a bit of a letdown, especially considering all the trouble Ellison went to. It’s been quite a show, the various razzle-dazzle versus strong arm tactics (not to mention the Middle Eastern money) he mobilized to turn two of Hollywood’s preeminent founding studios into ingredients in sub-brand stew that also includes CNN, HBO Max, CBS, DC Comics, Nickelodeon, MTV and Food Network.

Overseeing such a diverse mix is obviously too big a job for one person so Ellison added yet another flavor by drafting Ynon Kreiz as co-chief executive. Kreiz was previously chairman and chief executive of Mattel, where he facilitated the toy company’s big Hollywood push with “Barbie,” “Masters of the Universe” and the upcoming Hot Wheels movie. (Polly Pocket, now in development at Reese Witherspoon’s Sunshine Productions, should be preparing for her close-up.)

By sticking with Skydance, Ellison is not just making a large swath of Hollywood indisputably his own, he’s showing remarkable confidence in a name that first came to many people’s attention in 2019 when he hired John Lasseter.

Six months after Walt Disney Co. ended its relationship with the then-chief creative officer of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios following an investigation into multiple accusations of sexual harassment and workplace misconduct, Ellison hired him to oversee Skydance Animation.

Unsurprisingly, this led to all manner of protest, within and outside the company. When Emma Thompson learned of Lasseter joining Skydance, she withdrew from its highly anticipated upcoming animated film “Luck.” In a stinging letter she sent to the company at the time (and allowed The Times to make public), she wrote: “It feels very odd to me that you and your company would consider hiring someone with Mr. Lasseter’s pattern of misconduct given the present climate in which people with the kind of power that you have can reasonably be expected to step up to the plate.”

Lasseter was not Skydance’s only controversial hire. After merging with Paramount, the company made deals with or hired multiple men, including Brett Ratner, Max Landis and Jeff Shell, who had been accused of sexual harassment and/or misconduct.

Shell was made president of Paramount less than three years after losing his job as NBCUniversal chief executive following the disclosure of an “inappropriate relationship” with an NBC employee. He stepped down from Paramount in April after a monthslong legal battle with a Las Vegas gambler and self-described “fixer” who claimed that Shell had reneged on a deal to develop a series in exchange for free crisis control.

Now, of course, all of that is ancient history. Now Paramount is merely a sub-brand and Hollywood is less concerned with who Skydance hired as it is with who, and how many, Skydance will fire.

Also how exactly the CNN/CBS oversight committee Ellison agreed to create as part of the settlement with 12 states is going to work. And what will happen if Skydance does not release 30 new films each year, which Ellison has promised to do as part of the settlement deal. And how expensive the new Skydance streaming bundles are going to be. And if, perhaps, in some language Skydance translates to “the end of the entertainment industry as we know it.”

Most important, is it too late for the American woodcock to sue?

David Ellison said the merged Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery will be called Skydance — the moniker he picked nearly two decades ago when the tech scion began building his Hollywood empire.

Ellison, currently the chairman and chief executive of Paramount, is aiming to finalize the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Tuesday. Then the combined company will assume the name and logo of his once small studio.

“We chose this name for a few important reasons,” Ellison wrote Friday in an X post. “As we bring Paramount and Warner Bros. together, we wanted to preserve what has made each of these studios iconic. Both have distinct identities, extraordinary legacies and brands that have resonated with audiences … We never wanted a new corporate identity to diminish, alter or overshadow either one.”

By calling the company “Skydance,” Ellison said the merged entity would have “an identity of its own while allowing Paramount and Warner Bros. — and all our extraordinary brands — to remain in the spotlight.”

In Hollywood, there had been much speculation over what jumbled mash-up of the corporate titles would be used, with WarnerMount and Paramount-Warner Bros. often mentioned as possibilities.

Both companies boast century-old studios, beloved media brands and a recent past that has included several fraught mergers. When AT&T sold WarnerMedia to David Zaslav’s Discovery in 2022, he selected Warner Bros. Discovery as the corporate name.

The merger is quickly reaching the finish line after U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín on Wednesday signed a settlement agreement, effectively ending an antitrust lawsuit brought in July by California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and 11 other state attorneys general who initially fought the formation of a new Hollywood colossus. Paramount now has won approvals by nearly 70 regulators for the industry-reshaping deal.

For more than a decade, Paramount has been the smallest of the major media companies, owning CBS, Comedy Central, BET, Nickelodeon and the Melrose Avenue studio. With the $111-billion merger with Warner, Skydance will gain more valuable assets including HBO, CNN, TBS, Food Network and Warner Bros. film and television studios, along with their massive libraries that include the Harry Potter, “Lord of the Rings,” and DC Comics franchises.

Earlier this week, Ellison announced he was bringing Ynon Kreiz, who has served as the CEO of toymaker Mattel for eight years, to run the new entity’s day-to-day operations. Kreiz, 61, brings years of operational experience that Paramount’s top executives had lacked.

Paramount released details of Kreiz’s contract on Thursday in a regulatory filing, saying he would receive an $5 million annual salary and an annual target bonus of $4.9 million. He will also qualify for a signing bonus of $31.5 million to come over to the new company, paid through restricted stock units.

In addition, HBO Chairman Casey Bloys is widely expected to become head of the merged company’s streaming programming. Paramount’s streaming chief Cindy Holland exited the company earlier this week to make way for Bloys.

During a Thursday appearance at the Bloomberg News Screentime media conference in Hollywood, Bloys declined to discuss his presumed new role. But he suggested that that Ellison’s company might bundle HBO Max and Paramount+ services, allowing the two services to remain for now, rather than try to fold them into one gigantic offering.

Skydance will carry than $80-billion in debt, much of it acquired to retire the holdings of Warner Bros. Discovery investors at $31.17 a share. The company also has promised investors that it would find $6 billion in cost-cuts within three years.

During a separate appearance at the Bloomberg conference, RedBird Capital Partners founder Gerry Cardinale, a Paramount investor and board member, said finding $6 billion in cuts would be relatively easy, and would not be focused solely on layoffs. It would include combining the technology stacks for the various streaming platforms.

But Cardinale acknowledged layoffs would be part of the cost-cuts, a prospect that frightened many in Hollywood after endless waves of job cuts at the two companies.

Warner’s outgoing chief executive Zaslav will leave with a golden parachute valued at about $887 million, which includes cash, stock and options valued at more than $550 million, according to regulatory filings.

In addition, Warner board members separately agreed to pay Zaslav’s tax bills, which could approach $330 million.

Paramount Skydance’s streaming chief Cindy Holland is exiting the studio, clearing the way for HBO Chairman Casey Bloys to claim a key role in the company once Paramount acquires Warner Bros. Discovery.

Holland announced her departure Tuesday in a memo to her staff. Her resignation is effective immediately.

She joined Paramount nearly 14 months ago as chairman of direct-to-consumer operations, in charge of Paramount+ and Pluto TV, after David Ellison’s Skydance Media took control of the media company long held by the Sumner Redstone family.

Holland, a respected former Netflix executive, was one of the few Paramount executives who lacked long ties to Ellison, who brought much of his Skydance team with him to Paramount.

Her resignation comes as Paramount is waiting for a federal judge to approve a settlement agreement that would allow Paramount to finalize its $111-billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, which also includes CNN, TBS and the Warner Bros. film and television studios.

The agreement, unveiled last week, was designed to end a lawsuit brought by California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and 11 other Democratic attorneys general, who had argued Hollywood’s biggest merger in decades violated U.S. antitrust laws.

“As David readies for the next phase of his vision, we’ve discussed my role and the future of the combined businesses,” Holland wrote in the memo shared with her staff viewed by the Times. “David is optimizing for HBO stability as we move into this next chapter, and I fully support that.”

Ellison, in recent months, has signaled his intention to install Bloys in a pivotal role at the combined company.

Ellison months ago made a public commitment to protect HBO, which has long been a leader in prestige TV programming. The network has already undergone two ownership changes, and considerable management turmoil, during the last decade. Bloys has led HBO as its chairman since late 2022. He was one of the first Warner executives that Ellison met with this year after Paramount prevailed over Netflix in the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery.

The New York Times first reported Holland’s departure.

“Cindy has been a trusted partner to me and so many others, and I couldn’t be more grateful for her leadership, her relentless drive and everything she’s done for our company,” Ellison said in a statement.

Last week’s settlement of the antitrust lawsuit between state attorneys general and Paramount Skydance over its planned merger with Warner Bros. Discovery marked a clear victory for David Ellison.

If approved by a judge, the settlement would clear the way for the emerging Hollywood mogul to complete the blockbuster $111-billion purchase after months of uncertainty over whether the deal would overcome intense opposition in Hollywood.

What’s more, Ellison achieved the settlement without having to agree to any so-called structural remedies that California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta had been seeking.

But Ellison can hardly rest on his laurels. The Paramount Skydance chief executive will have to work hard to repair badly frayed relations with Hollywood talent who fiercely opposed the consolidation of two historic studios as a bad deal for workers. And the 43-year-old tech scion will be constrained by some of the terms that were imposed in the consent decree negotiated with Bonta and other attorneys general.

“I don’t envy David Ellison. You bought this ship, now you’ve got to sail it. And you’re facing threats on all fronts: bad will, everybody rooting for you to fail and operating a business in an incredibly uncertain, challenging time,” said Gabriel Kahn, a professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. “At the same time, you are going to have to mortgage everything to make these debt payments.”

As part of the deal, Paramount agreed to a slate of requirements that, if it fails to deliver, could induce financial penalties, litigation and other costs.

For one thing, Paramount would have to pay a penalty and divest the Miramax film studio if it does not distribute 30 or more films a year in theaters.

The studio also pledged to spend $300 million more each year on film production in the U.S. and further boost its film spending if the federal government adopts a film tax credit of at least 20%; it agreed not to sell or close its lot on Melrose or the Warner Bros lot in Burbank and to operate them “in a manner consistent with past practices,” until 2031.

Additionally, Paramount is required to establish a board to ensure editorial independence for CNN and CBS News, though it will be appointed by Paramount directors with the authority to remove its members.

Beyond attempting to smooth the industry’s many ruffled feathers, Hollywood’s newest mogul must now also wrestle down an astonishing $80 billion in debt accrued as a result of this highly leveraged merger.

Ellison’s father, billionaire Larry Ellison, late last year agreed to backstop the $47 billion in equity needed to complete the acquisition. Royal families from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi have agreed to contribute another $24 billion for an equity stake by assuming some of Ellison’s financial commitments.

The months-long battle was bitter and hard fought and enmity within the industry has yet to subside.

On Tuesday, the morning after Bonta announced the settlement agreement, protesters converged outside of Paramount Skydance’s Melrose Avenue gate criticizing the deal. Some held fake gravestones that read: “RIP local business,” “RIP crew call” and “RIP creativity.”

Two days later, a coalition of several groups including the Committee for the First Amendment, filed an amicus brief asking the court to reject the consent decree, saying that it failed to address the anti-competitive concerns of the state attorneys general and would not protect jobs or consumers.

The sense of betrayal was acute.

“Hate to say it but we all got played,” wrote actor Mark Ruffalo, a leading organizer in Block the Merger, a grassroots organization made up of 1st Amendment advocates and Hollywood celebrities who aggressively opposed it, in a post on X.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) repudiated the deal, saying in a statement. that it “enables a handful of billionaires to call the shots in the media.”

The entertainment unions struck more cautionary notes.

SAG-AFTRA, the actors union, wrote in a statement that the deal “addresses some of our deep concerns,” but added, “We hope that the process of engaging with the attorneys general has impressed upon them the fact that in addition to collective bargaining, our members rely on the law to help protect our interests. These are the lowest standards that our employers must meet.”

Bonta, who had spearheaded the antitrust suit, gave a tepid endorsement of the consent decree.

“I want to be clear about something right up front: This settlement is not a vote of support for this merger. It is not a blessing,” he said.

During Paramount’s heated and often contentious legal and political wrangling to wrest control of Warner Bros., many in Hollywood became increasingly apprehensive. Combining two legacy studios, opponents feared, would bring even more job losses to an industry already battered by runaway production.

The skepticism hardened as the Ellisons made several controversial moves after Skydance acquired Paramount last summer. They included agreeing to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit filed by President Trump over a “60 Minutes” interview segment, canceling the “Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs and appointing Bari Weiss as editor in chief of CBS News, who engaged in a wholesale overhaul that led to a revolt at the esteemed “60 Minutes.”

When the newly formed Paramount Skydance announced its intention to swallow up Warner Bros. Discovery just months later, a massive wave of political pressure and public backlash began.

But the Ellisons dug in.

In January — after Netflix threw a surprise wrench into the Ellisons’ designs on Warner Bros. by offering $72 billion, which the studio accepted — Paramount took Warner Bros. to court and launched a hostile takeover bid.

A month later, Netflix walked away from the deal and collected a $2.8-billion termination fee after the Warners’ board agreed to Paramount’s higher all-cash bid.

But many in Hollywood began agitating against the planned merger and pushing for guardrails and protections.

In April, Block the Merger released an open letter declaring their opposition; its list of professionals across the film and television industry eventually swelled to nearly 6,000 names, including Ruffalo, Jane Fonda, Ben Stiller, Sofia Coppola, Trey Parker and Denis Villeneuve.

“The future of free media and a strong entertainment industry in America is at stake here,” said Norm Eisen, co-founder and executive chair of Democracy Defenders Fund, who also helped lead the Block the Merger campaign.

The Writers Guild of America sued to stop the deal, saying it violated antitrust laws. The union last week settled its lawsuit, citing the costs of continuing the litigation, after Paramount agreed not to lay off writers at CBS Broadcast News for years and to pay $17.5 million to the union’s health fund. Nonetheless, the guild said: “We continue to believe the merger will cause damage to writers and the industry at large.”

Some backed the megadeal, including power broker Ari Emanuel.

The WME executive and chairman and CEO of TKO came out swinging, excoriating the antitrust suit, in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal in July. “They say they are protecting competition. Their actions threaten to destroy it,” he wrote.

The Ellisons’ ongoing ties with Trump — whose administration has clashed with ABC, CNN and other networks — only deepened the suspicions.

Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison has been a Trump supporter and friend. In addition to political donations, he participated in a Nov. 14, 2020, conference call that discussed ways to challenge Trump’s presidential election defeat.

Both Ellison and his son David reportedly promised the president they would make “sweeping” changes at CNN, which is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.

In June, David Ellison attended the “UFC Freedom 250” event hosted by Trump on the South Lawn of the White House, and last week he was a guest at the White House state dinner honoring Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Amid the high-level public-facing Trump engagements, Paramount had been quietly trying to allay fears about the relationship to industry insiders.

Two individuals in the entertainment industry, who declined to be named for fear of retaliation, said that Paramount sent emissaries to extend a kind of olive branch, explaining their commitment to Hollywood and downplaying the relationship as a necessary step to get the deal done.

In August, Ellison published an op-ed in the New York Times in which he extolled his lifelong love of movies and laid out his case that he could be “trusted as a steward” of the media giant he was amassing, that includes two institutional news organizations (CBS and CNN) and the legacy studios he wished to combine.

However, his seemingly conciliatory message was undercut that same month when he threatened to relocate Paramount’s base to Tennessee or Texas. Ellison built his Skydance production in Santa Monica.

Across the industry, workers viewed the mixed messaging with wariness and anger.

“If Ellison truly wants to be a steward and do the things that he said he can do and wants to do in that article, I think people would welcome it,” said Pamala Buzick Kim, a co-founder of Stay in LA, the 23,000-member grassroots campaign aimed at boosting local film and television production. “They just have no evidence of it.”

Aside from the bad blood, Ellison’s biggest challenge may be financial.

At a time of massive industry upheaval, most observers believe that the company will have to lay off droves of workers to bring its costs down.

“I will honestly say that the biggest work that they have cut out for them is servicing this debt, and that’s going to guide every decision,” said Kahn, the USC professor.

“Now they’re going to have to fire lots of people in order to reduce costs to be able to make this deal pencil out, and they’re going to be skating on the razor’s edge to make sure that they have enough revenue coming in going forward to service this debt. They have almost no room to maneuver.”

But Paramount has one thing working in its favor: leverage. David (as in Ellison), for better or worse, is now the industry’s Goliath.

“I think temper tantrums can be easily forgotten if the work is there,” said Buzick Kim. “I think most people would be happy to leave it behind them — if the work is there.”

Times staff writers Meg James, Stephen Battaglio and Samantha Masunaga contributed to this report.

The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday granted Paramount Skydance’s request to allow Middle Eastern royal families to hold a substantial stake in a merged Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery.

The sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi are slated to indirectly own nearly 50% of the equity in David Ellison’s proposed mega-studio, Paramount-Warner Bros. That will give them a hefty stake in CBS, CNN, Comedy Central, HBO and two historic Hollywood film studios.

Ellison needed FCC approval because the deal will change the ownership structure of CBS.

As part of the Communications Act of 1934, Congress placed restrictions on foreign ownership of broadcast outlets because of concerns about national security. Current rules prevent foreign investors from owning more than 25% of a company that holds a U.S. broadcast license — unless the FCC determines that foreign ownership would serve a public interest.

CBS owns more than two dozen TV stations with FCC licenses, including KCBS-TV Channel 2 and KCAL-TV Channel 9 in Los Angeles.

“Upon review of [Paramount’s] Petition and consideration of the record of this proceeding, we find that the public interest would be served by granting the Petition,” FCC said in its ruling, noting that Paramount has said the proposed ownership changes would “not result in a transfer of control of Paramount.”

Instead, “Ellison family will retain a majority of the voting interests and control of Paramount,” the FCC said.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, an appointee of President Trump, has been supportive of Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. Trump and his lieutenants, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, have been cheering for Ellison to control CNN, a Warner property.

Anna M. Gomez, the lone Democratic FCC commissioner, slammed the agency’s decision, saying it “just let some of the most repressive governments in the world indirectly control nearly all of a combined Paramount-Warner Bros.”

“An investment this large in one of America’s biggest media companies doesn’t just buy equity, it secures influence over what gets said and what gets made,” Gomez said. “That’s why I called for this new and novel issue to go to a full commission vote given what’s at stake. Instead, the FCC snuck this ruling out as a staff-level decision, with no public vote and no accountability for a call of this magnitude.”

Ellison’s billionaire father, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, in February agreed to personally guarantee the $47 billion in equity needed to buy out Warner Bros. Discovery’s existing shareholders for $81 billion. Ellison and longtime Skydance investor, RedBird Capital Partners, then entered into agreements to assign some of their purchase rights to the sovereign wealth funds.

The funds plan to invest $24 billion in the Paramount-Warner deal. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is set to contribute $10 billion while the Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi’s L’imad Holding Co. will separately add $7 billion.

Paramount has separately lined up debt financiers to help pull off the leveraged buyout of Warner Bros. Discovery — Hollywood’s biggest merger in decades. The deal has been stalled by an antitrust challenge brought by California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and 11 other Democratic attorneys general, representing such states as New York, New Jersey, Colorado, Nevada and Oregon.

The foreign ownership rule was adopted nearly a century ago because members of Congress wanted to make sure that hostile foreign players were barred from using U.S. airwaves to spread propaganda, particularly in times of war.

“We appreciate the FCC’s careful review and are pleased that it has granted Paramount’s petition,” Paramount said in a statement, adding the Trump administration’s Committee for the Assessment of Foreign Participation in the United States Telecommunications Services Sector had separately recommended approval of the deal, subject to several conditions to protect the data of the company’s U.S. based consumers.

Paramount said that, once the deal closes, the Ellison family and RedBird would “collectively hold the largest equity stake in the combined company and 100% of the voting shares, with no other equity participant having any governance rights.”

Paramount has two classes of stock — an ownership structure that will be replicated in a merged Paramount-Warner Bros.

The Ellison family owns 77.5% of Paramount’s voting Class A common stock. RedBird indirectly holds the remaining 22.5% of the Class A shares. The Ellison family separately has 40% of the non-voting Class B shares.

“At a time when the media industry faces unprecedented competitive pressure from dominant big tech companies, a combined Paramount-WBD will have the scale and resources necessary to compete, invest, innovate, and deliver premium content to audiences worldwide,” Paramount said in its statement.

Paramount Skydance will meet with California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta’s representatives next month for court-ordered settlement talks that could clear a path for David Ellison’s $111-billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery.

The two sides will convene for two days, Oct. 14 and Oct. 15, according to court documents filed this week.

The talks come as both sides look for ways to resolve the pitched battle over Hollywood’s industry-reshaping deal, which would put HBO, CBS, CNN, TBS, Food Network, Comedy Central and the Paramount and Warner Bros. studios under one roof. Bonta and 11 other Democratic state attorneys general sued in July to block it, and Ellison’s team has been stoking political pressure on Bonta to retreat.

Bonta canceled preliminary last month after details of a session on ground rules leaked, accusing Paramount of “playing games” by violating a confidentiality agreement and spreading misinformation.

Bonta’s Paramount case appears to have ruffled the Trump administration. He sued one month after the U.S. Justice Department blessed the merger without demanding concessions — a decision he said showed federal officials were not doing their jobs to enforce antitrust law. This week the department weighed in on Paramount’s side.

“The United States enforces the federal antitrust laws and has a strong interest in their correct application,” the Justice Department said in a Tuesday filing, describing its unique position to bring antitrust actions. Its “statement of interest” argued that the plaintiffs had sued as “private persons,” who must clear higher hurdles than the federal government.

The department also asked the judge to force California, the other states and the Writers Guild of America to post a $1.88-billion bond, covering fees Paramount would owe Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders if the deal isn’t finalized by Oct. 1. Paramount agreed to the so-called ticking fees earlier this year, confident the deal would sail through regulatory review. Bonta’s office said Wednesday it stands by its earlier filings arguing it should not have to post the bond. A hearing is set for Sept. 24.

Paramount’s chief legal officer, Makan Delrahim, has been quarterbacking the campaign for Warner Bros. Discovery. He served as Trump’s antitrust chief in his first administration, when he led an unsuccessful effort to block AT&T’s takeover of the company, then known as Time Warner Inc. That 2018 deal was the first of two acquisitions that saddled Warner Bros. with instability, strategic misfires and a mountain of debt, paving the way for the Paramount bid — which would mark the third time in a decade the storied studio has changed hands.

Trump has been eager for Ellison to shake up CNN, a Warner property, following his reboot of CBS News, which has coincided with diminished ratings at “60 Minutes”.

Ellison’s company has won approvals from more than 65 international regulators, and Paramount expects the Trump-appointed Federal Communications Commission leadership to sign off on a foreign ownership arrangement that would give Middle Eastern royal families a nearly 50% equity stake in the merged company. Bonta’s lawsuit is the remaining obstacle to closing.