Immediate Impact Seen at CNN HQ as Paramount and Warner Bros. Finalize Controversial Mega Merger
With the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger finally approved, CNN is already seeing some of the changes it has lamented over for the past several months.
One such change is that the monitors at CNN’s headquarters in Hudson Yards now display the Skydance logo as of Tuesday morning.
New York Times media reporter Ben Mullin posted about the alterations on social media.
“A sign David Ellison is not wasting any time: I’m told pretty much all of the monitors at CNN’s headquarters in Hudson Yards had the Skydance logo on them this morning,” he wrote on X.
A sign David Ellison is not wasting any time: I’m told pretty much all of the monitors at CNN’s headquarters in Hudson Yards had the Skydance logo on them this morning.
— Ben Mullin (@BenMullin) October 6, 2026
The New York Times also published a piece about the merger, highlighting the potential pitfalls for CNN and how the network could be drastically different moving forward.
The article claimed many CNN employees are “unsettled” by Ellison’s close relationship with President Donald Trump.
It did, however, highlight that Ellison left CNN Chairman Mark Thompson in place for now, who said he is confident the network will maintain its independence.
Paramount has also promised to create a board of journalists who will be tasked with preserving CNN’s autonomy.
More changes could be coming, though, after Ellison’s pledge to cut $6 billion over the next three years, with parts of CNN potentially on the chopping block
Along with CNN, the new company will consist of the Paramount and Warner Bros. film and TV studios, Paramount+ and HBO Max, along with CBS News.
CBS News will continue to be led by editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, according to the Washington Post.
Ellison said in a statement that it was a “historic day, not just for Skydance but for our entire industry.”
He added that he will now shift to “building a company that empowers creatives, entertains audiences and rewards shareholders.
Skydance took on $80 billion in debt to finance the deal and beat out Netflix, which was originally going to purchase the bulk of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Skydance, however, now controls valuable intellectual property like Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, the DC Comics universe, and more, which could prove profitable enough to cover the debts.
This news comes almost three weeks after Trump banned CNN, along with Politico and MS Now, from the White House.
The outlets filed a lawsuit in federal court and got the ban temporarily overturned, but the administration is still limiting their access to the Oval Office and Air Force One.
In a court filing from Friday, the Justice Department asked for the ban to be reinstated, CNN reported.
“[T]he President determined that Plaintiff news networks had published stories that adversely affect national security, including publishing possibly classified or sensitive information,” the Justice Department declared.
“In doing so, these outlets each demonstrated their willingness to publish information that undermines national security. Restricting access to the White House removes one avenue for these outlets to obtain such harmful information.”
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