Accustomed to getting what he wants, David Ellison now looks to be running out of moves, time and maybe even money when it comes to his $111 billion Warner Bros Discovery acquisition. Which begs the question, can the Oracle scion regain the upper hand for his deal with the Polo Lounge crowd and within the corridors of political power?
In a fickle town where the sharks briskly smell blood, the Paramount CEO’s loss Tuesday in the trial start date for the antitrust suit from a plethora of state attorneys general and the WGA has put the mega-merger in serious potential peril for the first time since Ellison outbid Netflix earlier this year.
Adding to the Skydance founder’s woes also is the declining net worth of his deal-backing and Oracle-founding father Larry Ellison (who is still one of the richest people on the planet), and the massive $80 billion debt load a combined ParaBros would carry. A derided NYT op-ed earlier this week by the younger Ellison appeared to raise more concerns than offering comfort for many. Now, there was some good news this AM with the UK government finally giving its approval to the deal and joining the more than 60 jurisdictions, including the USA, that have signed off on the pact. Also, U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín, who is overseeing the AGs March 2027-starting trial, on August 5 tossed out a consumer complaint against the merger — though the plaintiffs have leave to refile.
Still, with that partisan-by-any-other-name AGs’ suit, there’s the looming kickoff next month of a $650 million-a-quarter ticking fee to WBD shareholders. As new-ish CBS News chieftain Bari Weiss looks poised to rule over CNN too, there’s worries in Blue State and MSM circles about the fate of the cable newser thorn in Donald Trump‘s paw if the ParaBros deal closes. Even with the support of top exhibitors such as Regal Cinemas and AMC for the overall merger, there’s additionally a vocalized lack of trust on the ground out West over this consolidation. In petitions, legal action and IG posts, the Hollywood guilds and a legion of A-listers are pessimistic Ellison will keep his expansive theatrical promises if and when the deal finally closes.
Lurking in documents filed last week in the AGs’ action, Paramount admitted that if the deal isn’t finalized come February 19, they will have to refile merger materials with the DOJ. It’s pretty much procedural, but still another pain in the butt. A bigger pain could be the expiration date of June 4 of next year for the WBD merger. Racking up more fees for Ellison, Paramount has a contractual obligation to a pay out $7 billion termination fee if the transaction does not close due to regulatory issues.
RELATED: Judge Sets Paramount-WBD Merger Antitrust Trial For March
So, coming off recent and possibly prejudicial endorsements from Ari Emanuel and Chris Wallace — both of whom do big-money business with Paramount — plus a mixed Q2 earnings report Tuesday, what is the younger Ellison to do?
If Hollywood is quick to take a bite out of an injured party, the town’s Mandarins and chattering classes are equally swift to offer advice, solicited or not. To that, here’s a few suggestions I’ve heard of what David Ellison could do to get his Paramount-WBD merger back on track.
RELATED: David Ellison Says CNN Is Root Cause Of Merger Battle, Vows To Play It “Down The Middle”
“David Ellison could end all this overnight simply by announcing four shows and two movies made in L.A.,” a C-Suiter told me of the fears of a Paramount-WBD combo. “It’s simple. Jobs are what people want, production, tangible investment.”
Right now none of Taylor Sheridan’s shows are made in the City of Angels (the scribe also hates the place), but CBS Studios does film NCIS, Matlock and Criminal Minds in the home of Hollywood. Still, with over 40,000 industry jobs lost in the past few years, soundstages and vendor storefronts sitting empty, and lucrative overseas incentives seducing even more production away, things are bleak in town right now. Even with the annual now $750 million film and TV tax credits from the state seeing a small increase in hometown productions, L.A. is still giving ghost town vibes.
“You get crews on the lots, paychecks in people’s banks, like what The Pitt is doing, you’re the hero,” a seasoned producer states as the strategy Ellison should embrace ASAP. “It’s a win-win. No politician is going to stand in front of that. Labor would love him (Ellison). Simple.”
Acknowledging ongoing worries about deep layoffs and the big debt a ParaBros would carry, the big screen and small screen producer still says the antitrust arguments of the AGs lawsuit and distrust of Ellison’s promises of 30 movies a year and longer theatrical runs would “evaporate.” Predicting pressure from other guilds and their suddenly employed members could maybe see the WGA walk back its own lawsuit against the deal, the producer adds: “the town is starved for work, worried about AI, more cuts. Give that attention, it unlocks new alliances.”
In fact, for all his promises, pledges and a supposedly actionable letter circulating among exhibitors, Ellison is kind of burying his own lede when it comes to production.
Both Paramount’s recently announced Clueless sequel TV series with Alicia Silverstone and the Viola Davis-starring Ascent will be made in L.A. That means L.A. crews, L.A. cast and L.A goods and services, as well as investment in the local economy. Set to start production in 2027, both shows are in the mix for the soon to be unveiled next round of state tax credits, I can confirm. Which has a certain irony to it when you consider state AG Rob Bonta is trying to kill the merger, but incentives from Sacramento may prove the deal’s saving grace.
“Bari Weiss has to go, it’s that simple” a network news executive says of CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss. “Ellison can’t keep pretending anymore this is working. She’s killing CBS News, 60 Minutes. She definitely shouldn’t be anywhere near CNN for God’s sake.”
“Getting rid of Weiss would be a good reset,” an industry vet says, noting missteps and a perception that pleasing Larry Ellison’s good friend and CNN foe Donald Trump is the real aim. Shows Ellison means it when he says he’ll preserve CNN’s editorial independence. Shows he runs a tight ship, gets big boy stuff.”
“Zaslav got it with Licht,” the vet adds of the WBD CEO’s 2023 firing of his close pal and CNN leader after a series of blunders. “if your people are a distraction from the mission, they got to go.”
Bringing it up again in his CNN-focused August 4 NYT op-ed, Ellison has spoke repeatedly of his belief “news should be based on facts and truth.” Since purchasing Paramount last year, Ellison has also expressed his respect for “the home of Walter Cronkite” and the responsibility that comes with the stewardship of CBS News. Yet, as a media insider told Deadline, “his indulgence of Weiss tells a darker story.” The insider added: “She is a wrecking ball. Doesn’t matter what he says, he (Ellison) is responsible for the damage she’s done in his name.”
An Ari Emanuel-floated “editorial board” for an Ellison-owned CNN cut little cloth, with Weiss returned to again and again as the problem and the solution.
Since the day then newly minted Para CEO Ellison bought The Free Press for around $150 million in 2025 and brought founder Weiss on-board at CBS News, the anti-woke warrior has become a powder keg for the company. Under Weiss’ tenure so far, a pre-Ellison $16 million payout to a suing Donald Trump and ideological assumptions aside, ratings for the now Tony Dokoupil-anchored nightly news and the morning show have cratered. Weiss’s lack of TV experience has been blamed for the pratfalls the CBS Evening News has displayed over and over the last several months. For many, that pales in comparison to the 60 Minutes bloodbath in June that saw correspondents Scott Pelley, Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega purged along with executive producer Tanya Simon and others. Plus, allegations of MAGA inclined interference by Weiss in stories and segments has left a rank odor in the joint — to put it politely.
It’s no secret CNN staffers and talent have gone to CEO Mark Thompson with their own concerns about the Ellisons and Weiss since Paramount first expressed interest in buying WBD.
Still, even with Ellison insisting in the Gray Lady this week that the AGs lawsuit is really about control of CNN, sources inside Paramount tell me the CEO remains very much in Weiss’ corner. On the record, a CBS News spokesperson said that any suggestion Weiss was going anywhere son was “categorically not true and ridiculous on every level.”
“It’s shocking how partisan the Ellisons have made this deal, linking up with Trump,” one Hollywood political alum lamented to Deadline. “They are being so short sighted, when they should be making friends on both sides of the aisle, especially with Kamala,” she asserted.
“He should pick up the phone and ask Kamala for her advice, buy-in,” a longtime member of the Tinseltown donor class says, picking up on the tactic of engaging former Vice President Kamala Harris. “She knows antitrust law, and it shows he’s not in Trump’s pocket,” he notes of the former two-term Golden State Attorney General in the context of the lawsuit spearheaded by current Cali AG Rob Bonta.
As a speech set for Friday at the Louisiana Democratic Party’s Annual Gala makes very clear, Kamala Harris isn’t finished with presidential politics either. In that sense, questioning Ellison’s credibility and motives behind the ParaBros deal becomes “a lot harder,” an industry elder says, if he “widens his base in town” by making it known he has reached out to Harris.
From his private WHCD dinners with Trump, shout-outs from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, alleged Oval Office assurances to the ex-Apprentice host from Larry Ellison, UFC Freedom 250 bouts on the White House lawn and SOTU attendance, it’s sometimes hard to remember that David Ellison didn’t always skew so MAGA. Laying out in his recent NYT Op-ed that “I have regularly voted for candidates of both parties; I hold some views that would be called conservative and others that would be called liberal,” a transaction-centric Ellison is clearly looking now to broaden the perspective on his personal leanings
In fact, while Paramount execs like former Trump Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim would likely want to downplay it, Ellison did donate almost $1 million to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s 2024 campaign. As a matter of course, when Biden dropped out of the race, that money moved right into Harris’ coffers.
A conversation between Harris and Ellison has the added benefit of letting the ambitious CEO play the long post-Trump game — a place most power players in town like Disney’s Josh D’Amaro are already looking towards.
Also, while the former Veep and 2024 White House candidate has been under the radar of late and hasn’t attracted any of the 2028 attention of a Gavin Newsom or even a Mitch Landrieu, Harris is still a big player among the Democratic base — as that August 7 New Orleans event displays. Harris’ office did not respond to Deadline’s request for the ex-VPs POV on Ellison or the ramifications of any outreach by the exec. Paramount was mum on the notion too.
With the turbulent upcoming midterms, which is looking very strong for the Dems, as the stepping stone to 2028, might not be a bad idea for David Ellison to consider the upside of being good friends with the possible next POTUS as well as the current one.
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