It is official: CNN now sits inside a media empire controlled by a family with close ties to President Donald Trump.

Paramount closed its $81 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on Tuesday, putting CNN, HBO, Warner Bros., Discovery and a long list of other major brands under the same corporate roof as CBS and Paramount.

The new parent company is called Skydance Corporation. David Ellison is its chairman and CEO, and the Ellison family — led by Oracle billionaire and longtime Trump ally Larry Ellison — now holds the decisive voting power alongside RedBird Capital Partners.

To be clear, President Trump does not own CNN himself. After years of open warfare between Trump and the network, however, CNN is now controlled at the corporate level by an ownership group whose most powerful family has been closely aligned with him.

The change is not a rumor, a pending bid or a negotiation. The transaction has closed.

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In its official announcement, Skydance said the combined company began trading Tuesday under the ticker symbol SKYD. It described the deal as the creation of a global entertainment and technology leader bringing together Paramount, Warner Bros., HBO Max, CBS, CNN, TNT Sports, DC Studios, Nickelodeon, MTV and more.

David Ellison called the closing a historic day and said the new company would pair storytelling with technology.

Ynon Kreiz, the former Warner Bros. Discovery chief, will serve alongside Ellison as co-CEO.

The announcement says the combined company reaches audiences through theatrical releases, broadcast television, cable networks and global streaming services. It also places CNN’s news operation inside the same corporate portfolio as CBS News for the first time.

The ownership structure is the part that will draw the most attention in Washington and inside CNN.

The Ellison family and RedBird hold 100 percent of the voting shares in the new company, according to reporting on the completed transaction. That gives the group full voting control even though sovereign wealth funds connected to the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are expected to hold a large indirect economic interest without voting rights.

An SEC filing confirms that Warner Bros. Discovery became a wholly owned Skydance subsidiary when the merger took effect on October 6.

That legal step moved the company — and CNN with it — into the new corporate structure.

The filing says each outstanding Warner Bros. Discovery share was converted into the right to receive the merger consideration, subject to the agreement’s terms. It also records the completion of the transaction, the change in control and the replacement of the old public-company structure.

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The $81 billion figure refers to the purchase price. The total value approaches $111 billion when debt is included, making this one of the largest media combinations ever completed and giving Skydance command of a huge collection of news, film, television, streaming and sports assets.

This is a staggering concentration of media power.

David Ellison now leads a company whose holdings include CNN, CBS, HBO, Paramount, Warner Bros., Discovery, Showtime, DC Studios, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, MTV, Comedy Central, HGTV, TBS, TLC and the Food Network.

The Trump connection is impossible to miss.

Larry Ellison has been a prominent supporter and ally of President Trump. He has appeared with Trump at the White House, supported major administration technology initiatives and maintained a close relationship with the president.

His son David has also built ties with the administration while navigating federal approval of major media deals.

Trump has made no secret of his contempt for CNN. During the long takeover battle, he said it was imperative that CNN be sold and repeatedly accused the network of spreading lies.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth went even further, saying the sooner David Ellison took over the network, the better.

The Associated Press reported that CNN Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Mark Thompson remains in charge of the network for now and will report to Ellison and Kreiz.

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David Ellison has publicly promised to preserve editorial independence. The closing alone does not establish that CNN’s day-to-day coverage will immediately change.

The AP also placed the deal’s $81 billion purchase price at nearly $111 billion once debt is included. It noted that the acquisition unites Paramount and CBS with Warner Bros., CNN, HBO, Discovery and a sweeping portfolio of cable, studio and streaming assets.

The report says funds connected to the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are expected to hold a large indirect economic stake without voting rights. Corporate voting control remains with the Ellison family and RedBird, which is why the identities and political relationships of those controlling shareholders matter.

But corporate control matters.

Budgets, senior leadership, long-term strategy, acquisitions and the people empowered to run a newsroom all flow from ownership.

CNN is no longer part of the old Warner Bros. Discovery structure.

It now answers to a new company led by David Ellison and controlled through voting shares held by the Ellison family and RedBird.

For years, CNN positioned itself as one of the loudest institutional opponents of Trump and the MAGA movement. Now the network’s ultimate corporate chain of command runs through one of the president’s most powerful billionaire allies.

That does not guarantee a new editorial direction. It does guarantee that the old ownership era is over.

The real test begins now: whether CNN changes, whether it doubles down, and whether its new owners are willing to confront the credibility crisis that has driven so many Americans away from legacy media.

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Featured image: Larry Ellison speaking at a White House press conference. Official White House image, public domain; enhanced and cropped.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.

 

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