David Ellison
CEO of Skydance Media who completed the $8 billion Paramount merger in August 2025 and then launched a hostile $108 billion bid for Warner Bros. Discovery — creating enormous regulatory leverage for the Trump administration.
Corporate Ambitions
David Ellison completed the $8 billion acquisition of Paramount through Skydance Media in August 2025, weeks after the FCC approved the merger and Paramount settled Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit for $16 million.
By February 2026, Ellison had launched a hostile $108.4 billion tender offer for Warner Bros. Discovery — a deal that would require extensive federal regulatory approval, including from the FCC.
The Regulatory Trap
Ellison’s corporate strategy inadvertently created the conditions for the Colbert censorship. With the WBD hostile bid pending, Paramount Skydance had every incentive to avoid antagonizing the Trump administration’s FCC. CBS lawyers who blocked the Talarico interview were acting in the corporate interest of the pending deal — not in the public interest of free expression.
Colbert made the connection explicit: “Come on, you’re Paramount. No, you’re more than that. You’re Paramount Plus. Plus what? I guess we’re all going to find out pretty soon.”