Paramount Skydance is leaving open the possibility of selling off CNN as it searches for a way to clear the legal roadblock standing in the way of its $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, according to comments from a top company executive this week.
Makan Delrahim, Paramount Skydance’s chief legal officer, said the company is weighing every available option — including a CNN divestiture — as it works to resolve an antitrust lawsuit filed by a coalition of state governments.
Speaking at Politico’s California Agenda conference, Delrahim’s remarks represent the most direct acknowledgment yet from Paramount leadership that CNN could ultimately be spun off if doing so helps push the Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition across the finish line. He stressed that no final decision has been made, and that a sale is simply one of several paths under consideration.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, joined by attorneys general from eleven other states, is seeking to block the merger entirely.
The states argue the combined company would become an outsized “media behemoth” capable of driving up prices and stifling competition across the film and television industry. They have also pushed back on Paramount’s offer to guarantee a minimum slate of 30 films released annually, calling that commitment unenforceable.
Delrahim also became the first Paramount executive to publicly entertain the idea that the company might relocate out of California, following earlier media reports — based on anonymous sources — that a move was under discussion.
Asked directly whether Paramount could leave the state, he said executives ultimately answer to a fiduciary duty toward shareholders that has to factor into such decisions. He also referenced California’s presumptive incoming governor, former U.S. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra, saying that if he were in the governor’s seat, he wouldn’t want to see Hollywood — or a major employer like Paramount — driven to another state.
The comments came just days after British regulators approved the takeover, conditioning their sign-off on five-year commitments protecting programming and editorial independence at Channel 5 News, CNN International and CBS News. With that approval secured, the California-led lawsuit now stands as the last significant regulatory hurdle facing the deal, following clearances already granted by U.S. federal regulators, Chinese authorities and other jurisdictions.
Separately, the Wall Street Journal has reported that Paramount held talks about establishing an editorial board for CNN and adding other safeguards to protect the network’s independence — discussions that reportedly began even before the states filed suit.
Under the terms Paramount agreed to in February, the company would acquire all outstanding shares of Warner Bros. Discovery for $31 apiece in cash, valuing the target at roughly $81 billion on an equity basis and $110 billion including debt. Paramount has projected more than $6 billion in cost savings from combining the two companies. If completed, the deal would unite Paramount Pictures, CBS, Paramount+ and a slate of Hollywood franchises with Warner Bros., HBO, HBO Max and CNN under one roof — reshaping the landscape of American media and entertainment.
