When regulators threaten to block a merger, the company on the other side usually offers something replaceable. A slice of market share nobody will miss. Paramount Skydance just put its most recognizable news brand on the table instead.
Chief Legal Officer Makan Delrahim said the sale of CNN is "on the table" as the company tries to resolve a state antitrust lawsuit blocking its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, according to . He made the comment at Politico's California Agenda conference.
It is the clearest signal yet that Paramount views CNN as negotiable if it means finally closing the Warner deal. Read more:Paramount makes bold legal move for Warner Bros. deal The network sits inside Warner Bros. Discovery alongside HBO, DC Studios, and TNT, all of which would fold into Paramount if the merger clears, according to Seeking Alpha.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta and eleven other states sued to stop the deal, arguing the combined company would raise prices and shrink competition in movies and television, Al Jazeera reported. That lawsuit is now the last real obstacle standing between Paramount and a deal it has chased since December. Offering to sell CNN would not settle the case outright, but it would blunt Bonta's core argument that one owner controlling CNN, CBS News, and HBO concentrates too much media power in one boardroom.
The offer to sell CNN also sits awkwardly next to another track Paramount has been running. The company has separately discussed creating an editorial board for CNN and other safeguards meant to protect its journalism if the merger closes. Related: Paramount's Warner merger deal faces serious new problem Those talks reportedly began before the states even filed suit, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Paramount is effectively hedging in two directions at once: reassure critics it will protect CNN's independence, while also signaling it would let the network go entirely if that closes the deal faster. Paramount has already cleared federal antitrust review along with regulators in the U.K., the EU, and China, according to Seeking Alpha. Department of Justice cleared the acquisition in June after an eight-month investigation, according to .
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