Paramount denies Larry Ellison pledged to Trump that he would ‘overhaul’ CNN after WBD merger

Paramount Skydance is denying a report that Larry and David Ellison promised the Trump administration they would overhaul CNN as part of the company’s blockbuster acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.

A spokesperson told The Post the company made “no commitments from either David or Larry Ellison … regarding the future of CNN or any other news property, other than the goal to deliver truth-based journalism,” echoing a statement first provided to the Wall Street Journal.

The Journal reported Monday that Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, the father of Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, privately told President Trump that Paramount could remake CNN if the company succeeded in buying WBD, whose assets include the cable news network.

The paper, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that both Trump and Ellison viewed CNN as biased against conservatives and the administration.

The Journal also reported that the Justice Department’s approval earlier this month of Paramount Skydance’s $81 billion acquisition of WBD came despite concerns raised by some antitrust staffers.

“President Trump has consistently maintained that he was neutral to all parties throughout the Warner Bros. Discovery bidding process,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai told The Post.

A CNN spokesperson declined to comment. The Post has sought comment from Larry Ellison.

RedBird Capital founder Gerry Cardinale — whose firm partnered with Skydance on the Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition — appeared to tamp down speculation over CNN’s future.

Asked by Breaker Media whether Bari Weiss should ultimately oversee both CBS News and CNN after the merger closes, Cardinale declined to endorse the idea.

“I’m not going to touch that,” Cardinale said, adding that he and David Ellison are “huge believers” in CNN and praising CNN CEO Mark Thompson as “a phenomenal leader.”

Rather than signaling sweeping changes, Cardinale suggested the new owners would take a measured approach.

“I think one of the things … I’m going to suggest that we do is we slow it down a bit, and we pace this out, and we just sort of get in there a bit and understand it and then figure out how we can add value,” he said.

Cardinale added that while media businesses “need change,” the goal is not “change for change’s sake” but taking time to “listen” before deciding what changes, if any, should be made.

The Journal’s report detailed the close relationship between Trump and Larry Ellison, claiming the Oracle billionaire quietly donated about $45 million to a nonprofit backing Trump’s 2024 campaign and has contributed millions more to Trump-aligned groups since the election.

Ellison’s ties to Trump have coincided with Oracle landing a prominent role in the administration’s $500 billion Stargate artificial intelligence infrastructure initiative, as well as participation in the government-backed deal for TikTok’s US operations, according to the Journal.

The report also described David Ellison’s growing proximity to the president as he sought regulatory approval for his acquisition of CBS parent company Paramount last year.

During that process, Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle Trump’s lawsuit against CBS News over its editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. The Federal Communications Commission approved the Skydance-Paramount merger shortly afterward.

According to the Journal, David Ellison grew frustrated as the settlement negotiations dragged on and called Paramount director Barbara Byrne to vent about the delay.

Byrne told the newspaper she informed the company’s board and counsel of the conversation and said there was “no intent to transmit information, intervene, or collude in the settlement.”