The Ownership of CNN Network Transfers to Trump Allies

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CNN has officially come under the ownership of the new Skydance company, following Paramount Skydance's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery in a deal valued at around $110 billion, marking the transition of one of the leading American news networks to a media empire led by David Ellison, a close ally of President Donald Trump.

The deal was completed today, Tuesday, uniting the assets of Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery under the name 'Skydance' in one of the largest mergers in the history of the American media industry.

Under the deal, CNN, CBS News, HBO, Paramount Pictures, and Warner Bros., along with the Paramount+ and HBO Max platforms and several television networks, have become part of the new media entity.

David Ellison, son of tech billionaire Larry Ellison, heads the new company as Chairman and CEO, while Yunon Kraiz serves as co-CEO.

The Ellison family holds the largest ownership stake in Skydance, while the Ellison family and RedBird Capital Partners alone own the "class shares," which represent 100 percent of the voting rights shares in the merged company.

The transition of CNN to Ellison's ownership comes at a time when the family's name has been closely associated with the U.S. president, and David Ellison has previously been described in media reports as an ally of Trump.

During the stages of the deal, the new ownership of CNN sparked widespread interest in American political and media circles, particularly due to Larry Ellison's connections to Trump, in addition to the transformations witnessed by the news networks under the new empire. American reports indicate that Trump himself followed the deal and expressed interest in CNN's future, while the deal faced objections from political and union entities before its completion.

Despite the change in ownership, Skydance has not announced a change in CNN's leadership, as Mark Thompson will remain the president of the network and editor-in-chief, working under the new management led by Ellison and Kreyz.

Barry Weiss continues to lead CBS News, which is now under the same institutional umbrella as CNN.

The editorial independence of CNN was one of the most prominent issues that emerged during the organizational process of the deal, and the settlements that preceded the closure resulted in commitments related to maintaining the editorial independence of the network.

The new Skydance combines Paramount and Warner Bros. studios, along with the Paramount+ and HBO Max services, in addition to CNN, CBS News, HBO, and networks such as MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, TBS, and TNT.

The group also controls a massive library of famous works and brands, including "Harry Potter," "Top Gun," and "SpongeBob," along with extensive sports rights.

The company aims to achieve operational savings of no less than $6 billion over three years, while the merged company carries debts approaching $80 billion.

With the completion of the deal, CNN became part of one of the largest media empires in the United States, under the ownership led by David Ellison and his family and Redbird, amid a wide transformation in the landscape of media ownership in America.