A federal judge has cleared the final major legal roadblock standing between the Ellison family and one of the biggest media takeovers in American history.

Paramount Skydance is now expected to close its acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery on October 6, creating a single entertainment giant with control of CBS News, CNN, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros, Paramount+, and HBO Max.

The implications are enormous. David Ellison already runs Paramount Skydance, while his billionaire father, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, has supplied much of the financial muscle behind the family’s rise.

The judge’s order removed the final remaining barrier and put an official closing date on the calendar:

U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín approved Paramount’s settlement with 12 state attorneys general on September 30. Those states had sued to block the acquisition on antitrust grounds.

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The settlement was the last legal obstacle holding up the transaction.

The deal carries an equity value of roughly $81 billion and a total value of about $111 billion when Warner Bros Discovery’s debt is included.

A joint announcement from Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount says the companies expect the merger to close October 6, subject only to customary closing conditions, at which point Warner Bros Discovery will become a wholly owned Paramount Skydance subsidiary and its film, television, cable, and streaming operations will move inside the Ellison-led company. The combination will unite Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros, Paramount+ and HBO Max, and the CBS News and CNN newsrooms under one corporate roof, giving the new company an extraordinary collection of studios, franchises, archives, distribution platforms, and national news assets while David Ellison remains at the top as chairman and co-CEO.

Even CNN acknowledged that Paramount has entered the final stages of the merger:

Paramount already owns CBS and CBS News following Skydance Media’s takeover of Paramount Global in 2025.

Warner Bros Discovery brings CNN, HBO, HBO Max, Warner Bros Pictures, DC Studios, and a vast film and television library into the same empire.

David Ellison will remain chairman of the combined company and serve as co-CEO with longtime Mattel chief Ynon Kreiz, leading an operation built around a much larger collection of studios, franchises, newsrooms, and streaming platforms.

The company’s regulatory filing lays out the settlement conditions in detail, requiring Paramount to increase domestic film-production spending by at least $1.5 billion over five years, maintain annual theatrical-release commitments across the country, protect existing collective-bargaining agreements, preserve key studio operations, and provide $47.5 million for training and career development for workers displaced by the massive merger during its long integration period. It also requires Paramount to establish a five-member News Editorial Independence Board within 180 days after closing to monitor CBS News and CNN, with active or retired journalists who have at least ten years of experience serving on the panel but being appointed by and reporting to the combined company’s board of directors, where David Ellison will remain chairman.

Those commitments will remain enforceable after the transaction closes. The new media giant will therefore begin operating under continuing court-approved obligations affecting its studios, workforce, theatrical releases, and news divisions.

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The Wall Street Journal reported in June, citing people familiar with the fundraising, that Larry Ellison gave roughly $45 million to a political nonprofit supporting President Trump’s 2024 election effort, making it one of the cycle’s largest reported single injections of political money as his family expanded its business interests in technology and media. The money was reportedly given to a nonprofit backing President Trump’s election effort rather than directly to the Trump campaign or a disclosed Trump political action committee, meaning it would not appear in ordinary Federal Election Commission records, and that connection is drawing fresh attention as the Ellison family prepares to control both CBS News and CNN:

Larry Ellison’s relationship with President Trump has been reported for years, while David Ellison has taken a more mixed political path and made substantial donations to Democrats in 2024.

But the corporate facts are plain. The Ellison-backed Paramount already controls CBS News.

Once the October 6 closing is complete, the same company will own CNN.

For conservatives who have watched both networks push years of anti-Trump narratives, the prospect of a major shakeup will be welcome. Corporate ownership alone does not guarantee better journalism, and the new editorial board will be watched closely.

Still, the old media map is about to change in a massive way. Two legacy broadcast news brands, two major movie studios, and two leading streaming services are set to come together under one Ellison-led company.

The final legal hurdle is gone, and the closing date is set.

CNN and CBS News are about to answer to the same corporate leadership.

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

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