When regulators threaten to block a merger, the company on the other side usually offers something replaceable. A distribution deal. A regional station. A slice of market share nobody will miss.
Paramount Skydance just put its most recognizable news brand on the table instead. Chief Legal Officer Makan Delrahim said the sale of CNN is “on the table” as the company tries to resolve a state antitrust lawsuit blocking its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, according to Reuters. He made the comment at Politico’s California Agenda conference.
It is the clearest signal yet that Paramount views CNN as negotiable if it means finally closing the Warner deal.
Read more:Paramount makes bold legal move for Warner Bros. deal
The network sits inside Warner Bros. Discovery alongside HBO, DC Studios, and TNT, all of which would fold into Paramount if the merger clears, according to Seeking Alpha.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta and eleven other states sued to stop the deal, arguing the combined company would raise prices and shrink competition in movies and television, Al Jazeera reported.
That lawsuit is now the last real obstacle standing between Paramount and a deal it has chased since December.
Paramount uses CNN as bargaining chip to facilitate WBD deal
Offering to sell CNN would not settle the case outright, but it would blunt Bonta’s core argument that one owner controlling CNN, CBS News, and HBO concentrates too much media power in one boardroom.
The offer to sell CNN also sits awkwardly next to another track Paramount has been running. The company has separately discussed creating an editorial board for CNN and other safeguards meant to protect its journalism if the merger closes.
Related: Paramount’s Warner merger deal faces serious new problem
Those talks reportedly began before the states even filed suit, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Paramount is effectively hedging in two directions at once: reassure critics it will protect CNN’s independence, while also signaling it would let the network go entirely if that closes the deal faster.
California lawsuit blocks final WBD merger approval
Paramount has already cleared federal antitrust review along with regulators in the U.K., the EU, and China, according to Seeking Alpha. The U.S. Department of Justice cleared the acquisition in June after an eight-month investigation, according to Reuters.
That makes the California-led suit unusual. State attorneys general rarely pursue a merger after federal regulators have signed off, and a trial is not scheduled until March 2027.
Paramount’s $500M relocation threat
Delrahim became the first Paramount executive to publicly say the company could relocate out of California, following earlier reports about a possible move, according to Seeking Alpha.
He framed it as a fiduciary question rather than a threat, saying leadership has “a duty to your shareholders” to weigh where the company operates.
The financial pressure behind that comment is real. Paramount faces a $7 million-per-day fee if the Warner deal is not completed by Oct. 1, and leaving California could save roughly $500 million a year in state taxes.
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Tennessee, Texas, and Georgia have been floated as landing spots.
California Governor Gavin Newsom is reportedly nervous enough about losing Paramount that he has pushed Bonta’s office to consider a settlement rather than let the case run its course, according to Seeking Alpha.
Investors read the standoff as manageable: Paramount Skydance (PSKY) shares rose 1.1% and Warner Bros. Discovery (WDB) shares gained 1.4% in midday trading after Delrahim’s comments, according to Al Jazeera.
A new era for state antitrust regulators
This is not just a CNN story. It is a preview of how state attorneys general are becoming the real gatekeepers for megadeals that already have federal sign-off. Once the DOJ clears a transaction, companies have historically treated the path as clear, and nothing could stop the transaction.
California just proved that assumption wrong, and other states now have a template for doing the same to the next contested merger in tech or media.
Warner Bros. Discovery was not always Paramount’s to win. Netflix pursued the company earlier this year before dropping its bid, leaving David Ellison’s Paramount as the sole remaining suitor.
That history matters because it shows how much competitive pressure Paramount absorbed just to get a deal, only to now face a second fight over keeping it.
If CNN does go up for sale, the list of plausible buyers spans nearly every corner of media and tech, from Comcast to Netflix to Barry Diller’s People Inc., with Disney and Apple mentioned as more speculative names.
None of that matters yet, because no formal sale process exists.
What matters is the precedent. Paramount just showed regulators, and every other company eyeing a contested megadeal, that a marquee brand can become a bargaining chip the moment a deal’s completion is at risk. Companies used to treat federal antitrust clearance as the finish line.
That assumption is breaking down. The next company boxed in by a state antitrust suit will be negotiating in CNN’s shadow.
Related: Warner Bros. sues Amazon over an exec who left 16 months early