Paramount says selling CNN is on the table to save the Warner Bros. deal
Paramount Skydance’s chief legal officer confirmed a CNN divestiture is one option for resolving the state antitrust suit blocking its $110 billion Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition. Twelve state attorneys general are suing, with trial set for March 2027.
When a merger runs into regulators, the company usually offers up something it won’t miss. Paramount Skydance just named CNN.
Chief legal officer Makan Delrahim said a CNN sale is on the table as the company works to resolve the antitrust lawsuit standing between it and Warner Bros. Discovery. He made the comment at Politico’s California Agenda conference, per Reuters.
It’s a possibility rather than a plan. There’s no formal sale process.
Why the deal is stuck
The federal government already cleared this. The states didn’t.
The Justice Department approved Paramount’s acquisition of WBD in June, after an eight-month review. That would normally be the end of the regulatory story.
Instead, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and attorneys general from 11 other states filed suit to stop it. Their argument is scale: that the combined company would control an outsized share of the market, with the states calculating it would take more than a quarter of every dollar generated by wide-release theatrical films and basic cable channels in the country.
State AGs rarely pursue a merger after federal clearance, which is part of what makes this unusual.
The trial date is the pressure
A federal judge set the antitrust trial for March 2 to 19, 2027, which is a long time for a $110 billion deal to sit unresolved.
Paramount’s public position is that it wants to fight. A spokesperson said the company respects the court’s decision and believes a trial on the merits is the most direct way to prove its case.
Delrahim’s comment suggests the company is also pricing out the alternative. Divesting CNN would be a structural remedy, giving up an asset outright, rather than the behavioral promises companies usually offer, and it’s the kind of concession that can end a case before it reaches a courtroom.
Regulators elsewhere have already signed off. The UK cleared the takeover, and Mexico cleared it as well.
What a CNN sale would mean
Putting a major news network on the block to close an entertainment merger is not a small move.
Speculation about buyers has run from Comcast and Netflix to Barry Diller’s People Inc., with Disney and Apple floated as longer shots. None of that is grounded in an actual process, because there isn’t one yet.
It’s worth remembering how Paramount got here. Netflix pursued Warner Bros. Discovery earlier this year before dropping its bid, leaving David Ellison’s Paramount as the only remaining suitor. The company absorbed a bidding war to win the asset and is now fighting a second battle to keep it.
The merger has already produced one notable concession, a pledge to release at least 30 films theatrically per year with major exhibitors. Offering CNN would be a different order of magnitude. For now Paramount has said only that it’s an option, which is a long way from a sale and a short way from admitting the litigation is a genuine threat to the deal.
Article compiled and edited by Derek Gibbs (entertainment editor) and the Clownfish TV newsroom.
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Hat Tips:
Reuters (via PYMNTS) (August 16, 2026), verified for Makan Delrahim’s comments at Politico’s California Agenda conference, the divestiture being one option rather than a settled plan, the $110 billion valuation, and the twelve-state challenge led by Rob Bonta
TheStreet (August 13, 2026), verified for the “on the table” phrasing, the Justice Department clearing the acquisition in June after an eight-month investigation, the rarity of state AGs pursuing a merger post-federal-clearance, the March 2027 trial timing, and the speculative buyer list
Yahoo Finance and Deadline (August 2026), verified for the August 4 scheduling of the trial for March 2 to 19, 2027, Paramount’s “trial on the merits” statement, and the states’ argument about the combined company’s share of theatrical and cable revenue
CNN Business and PYMNTS (July-August 2026), verified for the multistate suit’s origins, the UK and Mexico clearances, and Netflix withdrawing its bid leaving Paramount as sole suitor