Paramount ‘offers $15m’ to settle Trump’s CBS News lawsuit amid Skydance merger review
Paramount Global has offered US$15m to settle Donald Trump’s lawsuit against its news organisation CBS News, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
However, the US president and the New York-headquartered media company remain far apart on terms after a month of negotiations.
Citing sources familiar with the situation, WSJ said Trump’s team is looking for upwards of US$25m, plus an apology from CBS News.
Trump is currently suing CBS News for US$20bn, alleging it deceptively edited a 60 Minutes interview with former presidential nominee Kamala Harris in the lead-up to last year’s election to make her look better. Trump, who filed the lawsuit just before being elected to a second presidential term, claims the 60 Minutes team was attempting to interfere with the election.
The settlement is viewed as key to securing approval for Skydance’s US$8bn takeover of Paramount, which is currently the subject of a months-long review by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FCC is led by chairman Brendan Carr, a Republican lawyer who was appointed to his post by Trump.
While the FCC has denied that the outcome of its review is connected to the CBS News lawsuit, it is widely believed that Paramount will need to settle in order for the FCC to approve the Skydance deal.
Shari Redstone
CPJ Photos via CC
Paramount’s controlling shareholder Shari Redstone is eager to settle in the belief that it will pave the way for the FCC to approve the Skydance-Paramount merger. If the deal were to be blocked, it could have disastrous consequences for Paramount, whose debt pile stands at more than US$14bn, while the decline of the cable bundle continues to eat into its profits.
But Redstone’s desire to settle has been met with fierce opposition within CBS News. Two high-profile executives have left the organisation in recent weeks, among them CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon, who reportedly left because Paramount was considering agreeing to a settlement. “It’s become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward,” McMahon said in a note to staff last week. Last month, Bill Owens, executive producer of 60 Minutes, also quit, citing a loss of editorial autonomy.
Several other studios and tech companies have already taken steps to settle legal proceedings with the president, including Disney, which paid US$15m to settle a defamation suit, while Meta and X paid US$25m and US$10m respectively to settle suits dating back to 2021 when both companies suspended Trump’s social accounts in the wake of the attack on the US Capitol building.
Skydance head David Ellison, whose father Larry is a friend of Trump’s (and a key financial backer of the Skydance-Paramount deal), was recently seen sitting with the president at a UFC event alongside Elon Musk, Ted Cruz and Robert F Kennedy Jr.
WSJ reported there is concern among some Paramount execs that settling with Trump could expose the company’s directors and officers to legal ramifications as it could violate bribery laws. Some within Paramount hope that settling “within the range” of what others have paid to end their legal matters with Trump will minimise the likelihood of such scrutiny, said WSJ.
Three weeks ago, in its first-quarter earnings report, Paramount Global told shareholders that it still expects the Skydance merger to close by the end of June.
