CNN Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mark Thompson said Paramount is the parent company of the news network, Warner Bros. He may continue his role at the news network after completing the deal to acquire Discovery.
Thompson, 69, is said to be in the early stages of discussions with Paramount Skydance Chief Executive David Ellison about continuing the job he has held since April 2023, according to two people who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report Thursday that Ellison had made an offer to Thompson about staying at the network. A representative for Paramount declined to comment.
Keeping Thompson in his post will provide short-term relief to CNN employees worried about the change in ownership. Paramount, Warner Bros. While pursuing its $111 million deal to buy Discovery (which is moving forward after a judge rules on an antitrust lawsuit filed by state attorneys general seeking to block the deal), the Ellison family has reportedly been in talks with President Trump about changing the network’s scope, which he mostly feels is unfair.
As part of the agreement, Paramount agreed to the establishment of an editorial oversight board that would monitor compliance with editorial independence from its owners and shareholders. The editorial board is part of the states’ agreement to end an antitrust battle that threatened to delay completion of the deal for months.
Keeping Thompson at CNN raises questions about how CBS News Executive Editor Bari Weiss will be integrated into the new company.
Weiss, who joined the celebrity news division last year after Paramount acquired the opposition digital news site Free Press, has made major changes to the “CBS Evening News” and the top-rated newsmagazine “60 Minutes” with no audience gains.
CNN insiders were skeptical about how Weiss could take over a much larger and more profitable news organization based on his CBS performance thus far.
CNN and CBS News are expected to merge some of their operations, such as their overseas bureaus. But there are obstacles to a quick merger because many CBS News employees work under union contracts. Most of CNN is not unionized.
But if Thompson stays, we’ll likely be left with the task of cutting costs as the traditional TV audience that provides the bulk of revenue for both CNN and CBS News continues to shrink.
Thompson was behind a major push to generate more revenue from CNN’s digital operations; These operations now include a subscription streaming service that allows the channel to be used without a cable or satellite TV package. During his tenure as president and chief executive officer from 2012 to 2020, he oversaw the successful transformation of the New York Times into a dominant digital news product.
The Paramount-Warner deal, Californian Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and 11 other attorneys general. But the detente did not ease tensions between CNN and the White House.
CNN was scheduled to cover Trump’s trip to Texas and Oklahoma on Thursday to the press pool. But the White House removed the network from the pool last week despite a judge’s decision to block the administration’s attempt to ban access to some media organizations.
Last week, CNN, MS NOW and Politico were banned from the White House. Trump cited media outlets’ ongoing negative news about him as the reason for the ban. The administration later tried to argue in court that its reporting posed a threat to national security.