Paramount pays $16m to settle Trump lawsuit, paving way for Skydance merger
Paramount Global has agreed to pay US$16m to settle Donald Trump’s lawsuit against CBS News, paving the way for the group’s merger with Skydance.
Donald Trump
Library of Congress
It comes after Trump sued 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.
In late May, Paramount offered US$15m to settle but has now agreed to pay US$16m, although this still falls short of the US$25m-plus Trump was hoping to win. The settlement does not include a formal apology from Paramount or CBS News, which the president had also demanded.
Paramount did agree, however, to release transcripts of future 60 Minutes interviews with presidential candidates after they have aired, “subject to redactions as required for legal or national security concerns.”
The settlement is viewed as key to securing approval for Skydance’s delayed 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 the outcome of its review is connected to the CBS News lawsuit, it is widely believed Paramount would need to settle in order for the FCC to approve the Skydance deal.
Paramount’s controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone, was eager to settle in order to gain approval of the Skydance-Paramount merger, although some reports have claimed this could open bribery claims against her.
If the Skydance deal were to be blocked, it could have disastrous consequences for Paramount, whose debt pile stands at over US$14bn, while the decline of the cable bundle continues to eat into its profits.
Redstone’s desire to settle was met with fierce opposition within CBS News, leading to the exit of two high-profile executives, CEO Wendy McMahon and 60 Minutes exec producer Bill Owens, who cited loss of editorial autonomy.
The settlement follows several others between Trump and other studios and tech companies, including Disney, which paid US$15m to settle a defamation suit. Meanwhile, 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.
Elsewhere at Paramount, its Israeli prodco Ananey Studios is gearing up to launch young-adult sci-fi thriller Wonder on the international market ahead of its debut on Israel’s Yes TV tomorrow.
Coproduced by Yes Studios and Ananey Studios, the 8×42′ series is set in the future and stars Moris Cohen (Our Father) as a man investigating his death of his teenage daughter (Noa Kirel). His enquiries lead to a mysterious digital realm she had hidden from him.
Wonder was created by Yishai Orian (The Beetle) and Yair Sagi (Burned). Yes Studios and Ananey Studios are sharing international distribution.
