Warner Bros Shareholders Approve $110 Billion Paramount Merger

Warner Bros Discovery shareholders approved a $110 billion merger with Paramount Skydance on Thursday, creating one of the largest media consolidations in history that would unite CBS News and CNN under single ownership. The deal faces regulatory scrutiny in Washington and London, with Democratic Senator Cory Booker calling for investigation of foreign investment from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, and China. Press freedom advocates express alarm over David Ellison's alleged promises to Trump regarding CNN changes and recent appointments at CBS, including conservative writer Bari Weiss and former Trump appointee Ken Weinstein as bias ombudsman. The merger occurs amid broader media consolidation, including the contested $6.2 billion Nexstar-Tegna deal currently blocked by federal court after eight state attorneys general sued despite FCC approval.

Warner Bros-Paramount merger and concerns over editorial independence

• ▪The Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount Skydance merger is valued at $110 billion

Nexstar-Tegna local news merger and emerging partisan bias

• ▪Sinclair Broadcast Group owns stations in 85 different markets
• ▪Donald Trump expressed support for the Nexstar-Tegna merger on Truth Social in February
• ▪Nexstar-Tegna merger shareholders approved the deal in November
• ▪Sinclair Broadcast Group used the same script across nearly 200 stations in 2018
• ▪The Nexstar-Tegna merger is valued at $6.2 billion
• ▪In 2018, Sinclair Broadcast Group forced anchors across all of its markets to read a script pushing Trump's talking points on the state of the US media
• ▪In 2018, the US Federal Communications Commission effectively blocked a merger between Tribune Media and Sinclair by sending it into a lengthy regulatory review
• ▪There are roughly 250 ABC-affiliated news stations in the United States
• ▪The Federal Communications Commission approved the Nexstar-Tegna merger in March