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Would the Ellisons Give Up CNN to Get WarnerMount Done?

With Paramount’s federally approved acquisition of Warner Bros. entering its endgame, the Ellisons will still need to placate regulators like California’s Rob Bonta. So what’s on the chopping block?

rob bonta
Rob Bonta, attorney general of California, during an interview in San Francisco on Feb. 17, 2026. Photo: Jason Henry/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Matthew Belloni
June 26, 2026

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Rob Bonta wants Paramount to sell CNN. The California attorney general won’t say that publicly, and his office stuck to its “remains an active investigation” messaging when I asked him directly. But the widespread belief among people close to Bonta is that a divestiture of the news network would be the best way for Democrats to feel not terrible about the Trump-friendly Paramount’s pending $110 billion deal for Warner Bros. Discovery.