Paramount CEO David Ellison made another visit to the White House last week for a private meeting with President Donald Trump, amidst Paramount’s ongoing hostile bid to acquire CNN and the remainder of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Ellison and Trump engaged in two broad discussions, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.
The timing of these meetings—early last week—is notable because on Wednesday, Trump was asked by NBC’s Tom Llamas about the tussle between Paramount and Netflix, to which he responded, “I haven’t been involved.”
This represented a significant pivot for Trump, who had previously indicated he would get involved and expressed a preference for Paramount.
The Trump administration’s regulators are currently scrutinizing WBD’s deal to sell off the Warner Bros. studio and HBO to Netflix. Paramount is actively trying to derail this transaction by going directly to shareholders with its own offer for the entirety of WBD, including CNN.
In the NBC interview, Trump appeared to enjoy the attention he was receiving from both Ellison and Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, who has also met with Trump in recent months. “I have to say, I think I’m considered a very strong President,” he commented. “I’ve been called by both sides. It’s two sides, but I decided I shouldn’t be involved. The DOJ will be handling that.”
In his remarks to NBC, Trump also touched upon Paramount’s argument that a Netflix acquisition of Warner Bros. would be monopolistic: “There’s a theory that one company is too big and shouldn’t be allowed to do it, and the other company says something else. They’re beating each other up—and there will be a winner.”
Two days after the NBC interview, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Justice is investigating whether Netflix “engaged in anti-competitive practices,” citing a copy of a subpoena.
Netflix responded by stating the company “is unaware of any investigation into our business outside of the standard merger review process.”
A Paramount representative declined to comment on the White House meetings. The White House press office did not respond to a request for comment.
Ellison-Trump Ties
Ellison has visited the White House numerous times during Trump’s second term, as has his father, Oracle billionaire co-founder Larry Ellison, a close Trump ally.
The Journal reported last December that David Ellison had given assurances to Trump administration officials that if he acquired Warner, he would implement drastic changes at CNN. Days after that story broke, Trump publicly declared it was “extremely important that CNN be sold” and called the news organization’s current leadership a “disgrace.”
The Netflix-Warner deal does not involve a change of control for CNN. WBD plans to separate into two distinct public companies later this year. Following that split, CNN and other channels would become part of Discovery Global, while HBO and the Warner film studio would be available for Netflix to acquire.
Paramount contends that the Netflix deal undervalues its offer of $30 per share, which the company has publicly put forward for WBD. However, to date, there is little evidence that WBD shareholders are inclined to back Paramount.
One of Paramount’s main points of leverage has revolved around the Trump administration and the question of whether regulators would block the Netflix deal.
Ellison is pushing what he terms a “clear regulatory path” for a Paramount takeover—a dynamic many analysts attribute to his family’s close rapport with the President.
Larry Ellison is a key investor in the new consortium of investors assembled by Trump that is now managing TikTok in the US.
And Trump praised both Larry and David Ellison after the family took control of Paramount last year, stating, “They’re my friends. They’re big supporters of mine. And they’re going to do the right thing. They’re going to make CBS—they called it the Tiffany Network, and it has great potential. CBS has huge potential.”
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