Billionaire Larry Ellison ponied up the money for his family to acquire the controlling stake in Paramount two months ago, and the tech titan would need to write another huge check should Paramount buy Warner Bros. Discovery.
So, in Hollywood circles, the question has been: How involved is the elder Ellison in Paramount’s strategy and operations?
Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison said he speaks with his father every day, but he drew an important distinction:
“Look, I run the company day to day. Make no mistake about that,” David Ellison said Thursday at Bloomberg’s Screentime media conference in Hollywood, adding that his father had been a “phenomenal” mentor and “we couldn’t have a better relationship.”
“He is the largest shareholder in the business,” Ellison said. “What’s important for everybody to know is the way he approaches this is: How do we maximize value for our shareholders? … I think he’s best in the world for doing that.”
Since the Ellison family and RedBird Capital Partners acquired Paramount in August, its stock is up more than 50%. Much of the run-up came last month after news leaked that Paramount was interested in acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns CNN, TBS, Food Network and one of Hollywood’s most prolific film and television studios.
Ellison refused to comment on Paramount’s pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery or whether his team had already made a bid.
But he did shed light on the business strategy behind any pursuit, while trying to tamp down fears that another big merger would result in more cost-cutting, more job losses and a reduction in content spending.
“The way we approach everything is, first and foremost: What’s good for the talent community, what’s good for our shareholders and value creation, and what’s good for basically storytelling at large?” Ellison said. “We’re looking at actually producing more movies [and] more television series … because you need that content.”
Paramount staffers are bracing for a massive workforce reduction next month, part of the company’s goal of finding more than $2 billion in spending cuts.
The company also invested in the construction of a Texas-based production hub for prolific “Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan and agreed to pay $1.5 billion over five years for streaming rights for “South Park,” the Comedy Central cartoon. And Paramount lured Matt and Ross Duffer, who created “Stranger Things,” away from Netflix with an exclusive four-year television, streaming and film deal.
Warner Bros. Discovery, led by Chief Executive David Zaslav, also has declined to discuss Paramount’s interest, although people close to the company have suggested Zaslav would like to see bidding war.
No other studios have publicly expressed interest and, on Wednesday, Netflix Co-Chief Executive Greg Peters downplayed such speculation.
“We come from a deep heritage of being builders rather than buyers,” Peters said during a separate appearance at the Screentime conference, adding the track record for big mergers was not great.
But Wall Street widely expects more consolidation among entertainment firms.
“Ironically, it was David Zaslav last year who said that consolidation in the media business is important,” Ellison said, adding “there are a lot of options out there.” But he declined to elaborate.
Analysts have speculated that, beyond Paramount, few other media companies have financial firepower to pull off a bid. And Paramount has an “in” that several other media companies, including Brian Roberts’ Comcast, lack: a good relationship with President Trump and his administration.
Trump has called Larry Ellison a good friend. After David Ellison spoke with Trump at a June UFC fight, the previous managers of Paramount got traction in their efforts to settle Trump’s lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” interview last fall with Kamala Harris. Paramount paid $16 million in July to settle the suit and weeks later the Federal Communications Commission approved the Ellison takeover of Paramount.
“We have a good relationship with the administration,” David Ellison said.
In one of his first company-wide directives, Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison announced that employees must work in the office five days a week, beginning in January.
In a Thursday email, Ellison outlined the company’s phased-in approach for office attendance — including offering a severance package to Los Angeles- and New York-based vice presidents and lower-ranking employees if they wish to leave the company rather than return to the office.
The move sets the stage for what’s expected to be deep staff cuts later this year. Ellison and his RedBird Capital Partners investors have promised Wall Street more than $2 billion in cost savings as they take over the storied media company, install their own teams and integrate Skydance Media businesses, including video games and animation, into Paramount’s operations. Paramount previously cut several hundred jobs this summer.
Paramount representatives have declined to comment on the pending layoffs beyond saying they hope to achieve the cuts with one large round.
On Thursday, Paramount said it had reached a three-year global film distribution deal with “Dune” studio Legendary, beginning with next year’s “Street Fighter.” Paramount will market and distribute Legendary films throughout the world, except in China, where Legendary East oversees releases.
Financial terms were not disclosed. The deal allows Warner Bros. to continue to distribute some films, including co-productions “Dune: Part Three” in 2026 and “Godzilla x Kong: Supernova” in 2027.
CBS News also is bracing for change. Paramount’s new chief is reportedly in negotiations with journalist Bari Weiss to buy her center-right news site, the Free Press, and join CBS News in an undisclosed role. A Paramount spokesperson on Thursday declined to comment on the talks.
Until now, Paramount staffers were expected to be in the office a couple days a week, but it was not consistently applied, according to people with knowledge of the matter but not authorized to comment.
Ellison is attempting to reset Paramount’s culture after years of under-investment, layoffs and management turmoil. In the email, he wrote the return-to-office directive was aimed at “building a stronger, more connected, and agile organization that can deliver on our goals and compete at the highest level.”
“We have a lot to accomplish and we’re moving fast,” Ellison said. “We need to all be rowing in the same direction. And especially when you’re dealing with a creative business like ours, that begins with being together in person.”
Media companies have had varying policies after the initial “work-from-home” policies imposed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic nearly five and a half years ago. Sony Pictures Entertainment brought its employees back to the Culver City lot relatively quickly. Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger ordered a return to the office in January 2023, less than two months after he returned to lead the company.
“As I said during our town hall, some of the most formative moments of my life happened in rooms where I was a fly on the wall, listening and learning,” Ellison wrote in his email. “I’ve never seen that happen on Zoom. Being together in-person isn’t just about showing up — it’s about actively engaging with the business, supporting one another and the team’s efforts, and contributing to our shared momentum.”
Times Staff Writer Sam Masunaga contributed to this report.
Jon Stewart took aim at his network’s parent firm Paramount Global for paying $16 million to settle President Trump’s lawsuit against CBS News, calling the move a payoff for approval of a pending merger.
On the Monday edition of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” Stewart and guest and former “60 Minutes” correspondent Steve Kroft laid out the details of the legal skirmish, which they agreed felt like an organized crime shakedown.
“I’m obviously not a lawyer, but I did watch ‘Goodfellas,’” Stewart said. “That sounds illegal.”
Last week, Paramount Global agreed to pay $16 million to settle the legal volley from Trump, who claimed “60 Minutes” edited an interview with his 2024 election opponent, then-Vice President Kamala Harris, to make her look better and bolster her chances in the election. CBS denied the claims, saying the edits were routine.
But the suit — described as frivolous by 1st Amendment experts — was seen as an obstacle to Paramount Global’s proposed $8-billion merger with David Ellison’s Skydance Media. The deal requires approval from the Federal Communications Commission, led by Trump acolyte Brendan Carr.
Stewart rhetorically asked Kroft if this settlement was “just a payment so this merger can go through and not be challenged by Trump’s FCC?”
Kroft, who noted that Paramount Global majority shareholder Shari Redstone wants the sale to go through, confirmed Stewart’s assessment.
Kroft noted that “60 Minutes” never said it screwed up, “they just paid the money.”
“So just flat-out protection money,” Stewart said.
“Yeah, it was a shakedown,” Kroft said.
Comedy Central, the cable network that serves as the home of “The Daily Show,” will be included in the Skydance deal. But Stewart remained relentless throughout the segment.
“It doesn’t feel like scrutiny on news networks — it feels like fealty,” Stewart said. “They are being held to a standard that will never be satisfactory to Donald Trump. No one can ever kiss his ass enough.”
Stewart has always spoken his mind on “The Daily Show,” delivering mostly harsh assessments of Trump. It remains to be seen if he’ll have that freedom when Skydance, led by Trump supporter Larry Ellison and his son David, eventually takes over.
Stewart returned to Comedy Central after parting ways with Apple TV in 2023. His last program, “The Problem With Jon Stewart,” ended after Apple executives reportedly expressed concerns over the comedian’s handling of potential show topics related to China and artificial intelligence.
Apple has deep ties to China and has launched an artificial intelligence product incorporated into its operating systems.
Stewart demonstrated the shakiness of the Trump lawsuit’s claims with an edited Fox News interview with Trump from last year.
Trump appeared to give a simple yes when asked on “Fox & Friends Weekend,” if he would de-classify government files on convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. However, Trump equivocated in a longer version of the answer that aired later on the network.
With the Harris interview, CBS News split an answer on Israel that she gave to “60 Minutes” presenting one portion on its Sunday round table program on “Face the Nation.” A different portion aired on the actual program, which led Trump supporters to cry foul.
“I would like to know why the ’60 Minutes’ edit was worthy of a $16-million acquiescence of what is considered the Tiffany news, gold standard network … when very clearly, Fox just did what seems to me a more egregious edit,” Stewart said.
A representative for Paramount Global had no comment on Stewart’s remarks.
Kroft said the the mood is bleak at “60 Minutes” in the aftermath of the settlement.
“I think there is a lot of fear over there,” he said. “Fear of losing their jobs. Fear of losing their country. Fear of losing the 1st Amendment.”
By early spring, Paramount Global was in crisis. President Trump wouldn’t budge from his demand for an eye-popping sum of money and an apology from the company to settle his lawsuit over a CBS News “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris. Journalists at the storied broadcaster were in revolt against the parent company.
Meanwhile, Paramount’s board faced withering pressure, with a settlement widely seen as a prerequisite for getting government approval for the company’s $8-billion sale to David Ellison’s Skydance Media, or the deal would collapse.
Then a new emergency erupted.
On May 4, CBS aired a hard-hitting “60 Minutes” segment that took aim at Trump’s targeting of law firms. Correspondent Scott Pelley anchored the report, which relied heavily on an interview with a leading Trump irritant — former top Hillary Clinton advisor Marc Elias.
Trump was furious. He threatened Paramount with an additional lawsuit alleging defamation, according to people close to the situation who were not authorized to comment.
The behind-the-scenes drama eventually would culminate with Paramount agreeing to pay $16 million to end the president’s battle over edits to October’s Harris interview, which Trump alleged was manipulated to boost the then-vice president’s election chances. Trump’s suit had demanded $20 billion in damages.
The deal resulted from months of back-and-forth among a constellation of power players with competing interests: the president, mogul Shari Redstone, tech billionaire Larry Ellison and his son David, Hollywood super agent Ari Emanuel, CBS News’ ousted leader Wendy McMahon and Jeff Shell, a former NBCUniversal chief now with RedBird Capital Partners, which backs Ellison’s Skydance.
The settlement, which the president approved late Tuesday, included a commitment by Trump to drop his claims and not sue over the May “60 Minutes” broadcast, according to sources and a Paramount statement.
Paramount said it agreed to pay Trump’s legal fees. The remainder of the $16-million settlement will go toward his future presidential library.
But the beleaguered company behind “Mission: Impossible” and “Yellowstone” mustered victories, withstanding the Trump team’s earlier demand for a $100-million payout, the knowledgeable sources said.
The company also refused to apologize for CBS’ reporting or edits, a stance to protect its journalistic ethics and 1st Amendment rights.
“This settlement allows Paramount to focus on its prospective sale, and CBS can maintain its principles,” said C. Kerry Fields, a business law professor at the USC Marshall School. “But principle has its price, and there certainly was one set here.”
The eight-month skirmish with Trump shined a harsh light on Paramount’s vulnerabilities — and deep divisions within the company and its prospective new owners.
Paramount had a narrow window to reach a truce. The company wanted to finalize the settlement before Wednesday, when Paramount held its annual shareholder meeting and three new members joined the board.
“This [settlement] was all about survival — it was that dark,” Fields said. “Paramount has to execute the sale to Skydance in order to survive.”
At first, Paramount’s sale to the Ellison family seemed like a sure bet. Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle Corp., is close to Trump and is also a possible buyer for TikTok, another deal of interest to the president. The landmark Paramount-Skydance deal, struck a year ago, could reshape one of Hollywood’s original studios and the entertainment landscape.
Redstone and her family agreed to part with their entertainment holdings, National Amusements Inc., and controlling Paramount shares. The family’s shaky finances were a catalyst for the sale. Redstone has borrowed heavily to meet debt obligations, including a $186-million term loan from Larry Ellison last year. The family is waiting for the cash from the sale of Paramount and National Amusements to the Ellisons and RedBird, a private equity firm.
But an unexpected blunder altered the deal’s course.
Last fall, “60 Minutes” invited Trump and Harris to participate in preelection interviews. Trump agreed, then backed out. CBS News went forward with a Harris sit-down.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris talks to “60 Minutes” correspondent Bill Whitaker.
(CBS News)
Correspondent Bill Whitaker asked Harris about the Biden administration’s rocky relations with Israel’s prime minister. Producers used different portions of her answer on two programs: a convoluted response on CBS’ Sunday morning show “Face the Nation,” and a more succinct part on “60 Minutes.”
Trump and his supporters zeroed in on the discrepancy. They accused CBS of doctoring the interview. CBS News denied the allegation, saying the edits were routine.
Days before the election, Trump sued in Amarillo, Texas, ensuring the case would be overseen by a Trump-appointed judge.
His lawsuit alleged the “60 Minutes” edits amounted to election interference — “malicious, deceptive, and substantial news distortion calculated to confuse, deceive, and mislead the public,” in the suit’s words.
President Donald Trump in the Oval Office.
(Bloomberg)
1st Amendment experts said the case had no merit; some figured it was a campaign stunt.
Days later, Shell, the RedBird executive who will become Paramount’s president should Skydance take over, held a conference call with top CBS executives. Shell suggested “60 Minutes” release the full Harris interview transcript in a bid for transparency, according to people familiar with the matter.
News executives refused, drawing a clear division between some high-level Paramount executives and Ellison’s team.
Those Paramount executives have bristled over Shell’s involvement, including a comment he reportedly made to McMahon late last year, stating the company eventually would have to settle. Skydance has said it has an agreement with Paramount that gives Ellison and Shell the ability to give input on key business issues — even before acquiring Paramount.
A spokesperson for Shell declined to comment.
The role of Shell, ousted from his previous role running NBCUniversal after acknowledging an inappropriate relationship with an underling, has been controversial. Representatives for the creators of “South Park” have accused him of overstepping his authority and meddling with a protracted negotiation over their overall deal and streaming rights to the long-running cartoon. A representative for Shell denied that accusation.
Trump had scored previous victories over media organizations. In December, the Walt Disney Co. agreed to pay him $16 million, including $1 million for his attorney fees, to end a dispute stemming from ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos’ inaccurate description of Trump’s liability in a civil court case. Press advocates howled.
Paramount held firm. But it failed to get Trump’s case dismissed or moved to a court in New York, where CBS and “60 Minutes” are based.
So the company was in a box. Its sale to Skydance requires the approval of the Federal Communications Commission to transfer CBS TV station licenses to the Ellisons, and that consent has been elusive.
In one of his first moves as FCC chairman, Trump appointee Brendan Carr launched an inquiry into whether CBS’ edits of the Harris interview rose to the level of news distortion — the crux of Trump’s lawsuit.
In February, Carr demanded CBS release a raw transcript of the Harris interview and the unedited footage. CBS complied; the material showed Harris had been accurately quoted.
The Texas judge ordered Paramount and Trump’s lawyers into mediation. Talks began April 30.
That weekend, “60 Minutes” ran its report on Trump and the law firms, riling Redstone and others. The Trump team and Paramount were already far apart, the sources said.
Soon, CBS News and Stations President Wendy McMahon was forced out. Knowledgeable sources attributed her departure to months of strife and persistent criticism from Redstone, who serves as Paramount’s chair. McMahon also made missteps, including overseeing an unsuccessful reboot of “CBS Evening News.”
The day McMahon was ousted, left-leaning U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) lobbed a salvo at Redstone. In a May 19 letter, they warned that Paramount board members risked possible bribery charges if they paid Trump to settle the lawsuit as a way to win FCC approval for the Skydance deal.
By early June, Redstone and the Ellison team were getting restless.
Emanuel, the agent, stepped in to help get the dealmaking back on track, people familiar with the matter said. Emanuel is Trump’s former talent agent and one of Ellison’s closest allies.
On June 7, Ellison met briefly with Trump at a UFC event in New Jersey. Emanuel is executive chairman of the WME Group and chief executive of UFC’s parent company, TKO.
According to a source, Emanuel associate Dana White, the Trump-supporting UFC chief executive, helped facilitate the Ellison meeting with the president, which occurred steps away from the fighters’ octagon.
People close to Ellison and Emanuel declined to discuss Ellison’s interactions with the president. Representatives of Skydance, Redstone and Emanuel declined to comment for this story.
Finally, a breakthrough came when Trump offered support for Ellison and the Skydance deal, though he continued to blast Harris and CBS News.
Meanwhile, the clock was ticking. Redstone and others wanted the board to handle the settlement before the shareholder meeting, when one director stepped down, and three new members joined the board.
Redstone recused herself from voting but made her wishes known.
The settlement was finally reached about 10 hours before the Paramount board switched.
One person close to the legal effort said the agreement “got over the finish line” due to a sweetener for Trump. His team anticipates that Paramount networks eventually will run millions of dollars worth of free commercials, or public service announcements, in support of Trump causes, including combating antisemitism and increasing border security.
Paramount denied this.
“Paramount’s settlement with President Trump does not include PSAs,” the company said in a statement. “Paramount has no knowledge of any promises or commitments made to President Trump other than those set forth in the settlement proposed by the mediator and accepted by the parties.”
Skydance declined to comment. Emanuel did not respond to messages.
The settlement does contain another provision championed by Trump.“60 Minutes” will release transcripts of interviews with eligible U.S. presidential candidates after those interviews air, “subject to redactions as required for legal or national security concerns,” Paramount said.
1st Amendment advocates were discouraged by the deal. So were Trump’s enemies, including the senators who had vowed to investigate the deal for bribery.
Paramount’s move to “settle a bogus lawsuit with President Trump over a 60 Minutes report he did not like is an extremely dangerous precedent,” Sanders, the U.S. senator, said in a statement. “Paramount’s decision will only embolden Trump to continue attacking, suing and intimidating the media.”
Media giant Paramount Global is trying to avoid a streaming future without Cartman, Stan, Kyle and Kenny.
As Paramount struggles to complete a key merger, the company is in the midst of a protracted negotiation to extend one of its biggest and most important franchises: the long-running foulmouthed cartoon “South Park.”
Paramount’s $900-million overall deal with “South Park” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker doesn’t expire for another two years. New episodes run first on Paramount’s basic cable network Comedy Central.
But efforts to renew that venture and bring the show to the Paramount+ streaming service have hit a major snag, according to three people familiar with the discussions who were not authorized to speak publicly.
The situation highlights deep tensions and disagreements as a trio of executives try to manage Paramount until the company’s sale to David Ellison’s Skydance Media, which has the right to approve or deny large deals such as the “South Park” pact under covenants made with Paramount.
Paramount leaders are desperate to lock down “South Park’s” streaming rights in the U.S. and abroad. They’ve long been frustrated by a licensing arrangement made six years ago by the previous regime that sent “South Park” to rival HBO Max, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. That deal expires this month.
“South Park” is one of Paramount’s most important shows. Along with “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,” the four boys and their celebrity-skewering ways put Comedy Central on the map for basic cable viewers, taking on hot-button issues from Scientology and the War on Terror to the royal family and the Trump administration.
During a May earnings call, Paramount co-Chief Executive Chris McCarthy — who runs Paramount’s media networks as well as Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios — told investors that “South Park” episodes would begin streaming on Paramount+ in July.
However, Paramount hasn’t nailed down the streaming rights to “South Park,” according to the three people familiar with the conversations. Since earlier this year, Paramount has made at least one offer to Parker and Stone as an early extension of their overall deal.
The company also wants to secure rights to stream the 333 episodes of “South Park” on Paramount+.
Some of the knowledgeable people expect “South Park” distribution fees to be valued at more than $200 million a year.
But Skydance hasn’t signed off, believing the deals to be too rich, according to the sources. Paramount executives believe the show is worth the big bucks, given the show’s enduring popularity and legacy.
Representatives for Paramount and Skydance declined to comment.
Hollywood agent Ari Emanuel, whose firm WME represents Parker and Stone, defended Paramount and Skydance’s handling of the situation on Friday by phone.
“Nobody has rejected anything. They are just doing their analysis,” Emanuel told The Times in a brief interview. “We’ve got offers from other distributors. Everybody wants this show.”
Skydance’s $8-billion takeover of Paramount has been in a holding pattern for months as the two companies wait for federal regulators’ approval. Skydance, backed by tech mogul Larry Ellison and RedBird Capital Partners, is eager to take over the storied media company.
They intend to bring increased financial rigor to Paramount’s operations, other sources have said. Paramount and Skydance have told Wall Street the deal will bring $2 billion in cost savings, with half of that coming in the first year.
Deadlines are looming. The new season, the program’s 27th, is scheduled to debut July 9 on Comedy Central.
Unless Paramount strikes a deal with the creators by June 23, the company risks losing the franchise’s streaming rights because Parker and Stone could shop the show to other interested streamers, such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video or Hulu. However, sources cautioned that negotiations could go past the June deadline and that the parties expect a deal to get done.
Represented by their longtime attorney Kevin Morris, who is leading the current negotiations, the duo carved out the internet rights nearly two decades ago. They formed a joint venture with Paramount (then known as Viacom) called South Park Digital Studios. That decision proved highly lucrative for Parker and Stone, also known for the hit Broadway musical “The Book of Mormon.”
Paramount runs the joint venture with Stone and Parker, sharing control of the streaming rights to the show that launched in 1997 on Comedy Central, although the duo can veto streaming deals they find unfavorable.
Companies are typically not supposed to wade too deeply into another firm’s affairs. Federal antitrust laws prohibit so-called gun-jumping, when an acquiring company begins calling the shots before a deal’s official closure. But Paramount agreed to accept Skydance’s input on big-ticket expenditures while the two sides wait for the deal to close.
The “South Park” streaming rights negotiations also have been complicated by a lawsuit brought two years ago by Warner Bros. Discovery. That company accused Paramount of violating terms of its 2019 licensing pact for “South Park,” after Warner paid about $540 million for the show’s streaming rights.
Paramount and the “South Park” creators developed specials featuring the four animated boys in a fictional Colorado mountain town to stream exclusively on Paramount+. Warner argued the move violated its licensing deal. HBO Max declined to comment.
Two years after the HBO Max deal, Paramount struck a new accord with Parker and Stone for $900 million, sealing their partnership and ensuring new episodes of “South Park” would be made. That deal runs to 2027, although Paramount executives have offered to extend that arrangement for several years.
Paramount has long intended to shift the show to Paramount+ as soon as the HBO Max deal expires.
The various parties have long envisioned a scenario where domestic and international rights would be shared by at least two different streaming services. Although neither partner would have exclusive rights, the current trend in television is for studios to maximize revenue to help pay for expensive programs, like “South Park,” while maintaining some streaming rights.
Paramount also has been dealing with another crisis that has been complicated by the Skydance merger. The company has sought to settle President Trump’s $20-billion lawsuit claiming subsidiary CBS News deceptively edited a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris, an allegation CBS denies.
Trump’s case hasn’t been resolved, and the Federal Communications Commission has been slow to review Skydance’s proposed takeover of Paramount, extending the deal review.
The Skydance transaction has been pending at the FCC since last fall, leaving Paramount executives in limbo.
Paramount Global’s efforts to appease President Trump could carry a steep price, and not just financially. As Paramount executives struggle to win government approval for its planned sale, the legal risks and political headaches are spreading — from Washington to Sacramento.
Three U.S. senators have warned Paramount’s controlling shareholder Shari Redstone and other decision-makers that paying Trump to drop his $20-billion lawsuit over an October “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris could be considered a bribe.
Scrutiny widened late last week when two California Democrats proposed a state Senate hearing to probe details of the drama that has roiled the media company for months. The senators invited two former CBS News executives — who both left, in large part, because of the controversy — to testify before a joint committee hearing in Sacramento to help lawmakers examine problems with a possible Trump settlement.
“I haven’t seen a president act in this brazen of a manner,” state Sen. Josh Becker (D-Menlo Park) said in an interview. “We’re concerned about a possible chilling effect any settlement might have on investigative and political journalism. It would also send a message that politically motivated lawsuits can succeed, especially when paired with regulatory threats.”
Settling the Trump lawsuit is widely seen as a prerequisite for regulators to finally clear Paramount’s $8-billion sale to Skydance Media, which Redstone has been desperately counting on to save her family’s fortunes.
Trump contends CBS edited the “60 Minutes” interview to enhance Harris’ appeal in the 2024 presidential election, which she lost. He reportedly rebuffed Paramount’s recent $15-million offer to settle his lawsuit, which 1st Amendment experts have dismissed as frivolous.
“This is a really important case,” said Scott L. Cummings, a legal ethics professor at UCLA’s School of Law. “Legislators are starting to raise alarms.”
But whether federal or state politicians could foil a Trump settlement is murky. Experts caution, for example, that it may be difficult, if a settlement is reached, to prove that Paramount’s leaders paid a bribe.
Congress has grappled with such distinctions before, Cummings said. The U.S. Senate acquitted Trump in February 2020 after the House voted to impeach him for allegedly holding up nearly $400 million in security aid to pressure Ukraine to investigate former President Biden and his son Hunter. Major universities and law firms offered significant concessions to the administration this year to try to carve out breathing room.
“We would have to have a lot more facts,” Cummings said. “Bribery requires a quid pro quo … and [Trump and his lieutenants] are always very careful not to explicitly couple the two things together. But, clearly, they are related, right? This is the challenge, legally speaking.”
Even if a Paramount payoff could be proved to be a bribe, it’s unclear who would prosecute such a case.
No one expects the Trump-controlled FBI or others within the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate allegations of bribery. Trump also has a grip on congressional Republicans and the Federal Communications Commission is run by a Trump appointee, Brendan Carr, who in one of his first acts as chairman, opened a public inquiry into whether the “60 Minutes” edits rose to the level of news distortion.
It may fall to state prosecutors to dig into the issue, Cummings said.
Vice President Kamala Harris talks to “60 Minutes” correspondent Bill Whitaker.
(CBS News)
That hasn’t stopped nationally prominent progressive lawmakers from sounding alarms.
U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) have demanded Paramount provide information about the company’s deliberations or concessions to facilitate a deal with Trump, including whether newscasts were toned down.
“It is illegal to corruptly give anything of value to public officials to influence an official act,” the lawmakers wrote in their May 19 letter to Redstone. “If Paramount officials make these concessions … to influence President Trump … they may be breaking the law.”
Redstone and Paramount failed to respond to the senators’ questions by this week’s deadline, according to Warren’s office.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has suggested that Paramount executives could be liable for unlawfully paying a bribe if it settles President Trump’s lawsuit against CBS to secure approval of Paramount’s sale to Skydance Media.
(Mark Schiefelbein / Associated Press)
Paramount and a Redstone spokesperson declined to comment.
Lawmakers often express interest in big media takeovers, and Skydance’s proposed purchase of an original Hollywood movie studio and pioneering broadcaster CBS could be an industry game changer. But this time, interest is less focused on vetting the Ellison family or the deal’s particulars and more about determining whether Trump inappropriately wields his power.
Trump has demanded Paramount pay “a lot” of money to settle his lawsuit. The president also has called for CBS to lose its station licenses, which are governed by the FCC.
For more than a month, attorneys for Paramount and Trump have participated in mediation sessions without resolution.
Paramount offered $15 million but Trump said no, according to the Wall Street Journal. Instead, the president reportedly demanded at least $25 million in cash, plus an additional $25 million in free commercials to pump his favorite causes. He also wants an apology.
The latter is a red line for CBS News executives who say they have done nothing wrong, according to insiders who were not authorized to discuss the sensitive deliberations.
The two California state senators — Becker and Tom Umberg (D-Orange) — hope such fractures provide an opening.
Late last week, the pair invited former CBS News and Stations President Wendy McMahon and former “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens to testify at a yet-unscheduled oversight hearing in Sacramento.
“You are being approached as friendly witnesses who may help our committees assess whether improper influence is being exerted in ways that threaten public trust and competition in the media sector,” Becker and Umberg wrote to the former executives. Becker is chairman of the Senate Energy, Utilities & Communications Committee; Umberg heads the Senate Judiciary Committee.
California has an interest, in part, because Paramount operates in the state, including a large presence in Los Angeles, Becker told The Times.
The controversy over the edits began in October after CBS aired different parts of Harris’ response to a question during a “60 Minutes” interview a month before the election. Producers of the public affairs show “Face the Nation” used a clip of Harris giving a convoluted response. The following day, “60 Minutes” aired the most forceful part of her answer, prompting conservatives to cry foul.
Trump filed his federal lawsuit in Texas days before the election, alleging CBS had deceptively edited the Harris interview to boost her election chances, an allegation CBS denies. After returning to the White House, Trump doubled the damages he was seeking to $20 billion. His team claims he suffered “mental anguish” as a result of the interview.
CBS has asked the Texas judge, a Trump appointee, to dismiss the lawsuit, saying the edits were routine.
Since then, the FCC’s review of Paramount’s Skydance deal has become bogged down. Paramount needs Carr’s approval to transfer CBS television station licenses to the Ellison family.
Paramount has said it is treating the proposed settlement and FCC review on the Skydance merger as separate matters.
Experts doubt Trump sees such a distinction.
Trump and his team “essentially are using government processes to set up negotiations that end up benefiting Trump personally in ways that raise corruption concerns,” Cummings said.
Paramount’s decision could open the company to shareholder complaints.
The reason Trump’s CBS “60 Minutes” lawsuit has become such a lightning rod is “because the lawsuit is so ridiculously frivolous,” said Seth Stern, advocacy director for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, which owns Paramount shares and has vowed a lawsuit if the company capitulates.
“This is so transparently an abuse of power — a shakedown,” Stern said.
Media analyst Richard Greenfield of LightShed Partners suggested that Trump’s goal may be about more than his reported demand of nearly $50 million.
“The far bigger question is whether there is any number that Trump would want to settle the CBS/60 Minutes lawsuit,” Greenfield wrote in a blog post this week. “If Trump’s goal is to weaken the press and cause persistent fear of lawsuits that could negatively impact business combinations, keeping the CBS/60 Minutes lawsuit ongoing could be in the President’s best interests.”
UCLA’s Cummings sees another deleterious outcome.
A settlement could “legitimize the narrative that Trump puts out that there’s some sort of corruption within these media entities,” Cummings said. “He could point to a settlement and say: ‘I told you they did something wrong, and they now agreed because they paid me this amount of money.’ ”
“Even though they would be paying to get this deal through,” Cummings said.
