Paramount Denies Intent to Sell CNN Amid Merger Talks with WBD

Paramount is not planning to sell CNN to facilitate the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger. The deal is facing obstacles, including a reluctance to sell CNN. This issue is contributing to the delay in the deal.

Paramount Skydance PSKY pushed back on reports that it would sell CNN to clear its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery WBD, with a company source telling CNN there is zero truth to the notion that chief executive David Ellison is prepared to divest the network as part of the transaction .

The denial followed the company's own remarks. Chief legal officer Makan Delrahim said on August 12 at a Politico conference that everything is on the table with respect to CNN, in the context of addressing antitrust objections . Both statements are accurate as of their timing, and the gap between them is the story: a divestiture was floated as a possible concession and then walked back within roughly a day.

The pressure here is regulatory rather than financial. California Attorney General Rob Bonta and eleven other state attorneys general have sued to block the roughly $110 billion, $31-per-share all-cash deal, with trial dates set for March 2 to 19, 2027 . CNN is the asset most likely to be demanded as a remedy, which is why the sale question keeps resurfacing regardless of what the company says publicly.

What to watch is whether Paramount offers a structural remedy short of a CNN sale before trial, since the March 2027 calendar means the transaction carries antitrust overhang for at least two more quarters. For WBD holders, the arbitrage spread against the $31 cash price remains the cleanest live read on how the market handicaps that outcome.

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