Will David Ellison announce b4 July 15 who will run CNN when Paramount completes its takeover?
62% of users predicted NO — the community got this one right. 34 predictions cast.
David Ellison had not announced who would run CNN before July 15, 2026. Paramount Skydance, under CEO Ellison, was in the process of acquiring CNN's parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, in a deal valued at roughly $111 billion and expected to close in the third quarter of 2026. Ellison said publicly, including in a CNBC interview, that CNN would remain an editorially independent news organization and that the company's near-term focus for the network would be expanding its availability on streaming platforms.
Ellison had already installed Free Press founder Bari Weiss as head of CBS News following the earlier Paramount-Skydance merger, and reporting indicated he and his deputies were weighing whether Weiss would also take on some oversight role at CNN once the Warner Bros. Discovery deal closed. No final decision or named CNN leadership structure had been announced as of the deadline, since the acquisition itself had not yet closed.
The community majority (62% predicted no announcement) correctly anticipated that a leadership decision for CNN would wait until the deal's closing rather than being announced beforehand.