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Paramount-Warner Merger Elevates Ellison, Includes $16.5M Trump Bribe

5/28/2026

Summary

Story summary

Paramount Global announced a pending merger with Warner Bros. Discovery that would install Skydance CEO David Ellison as head and give the combined company ownership of HBO, MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, TBS, TNT, Discovery, Paramount+ and Pluto TV.
Paramount paid $16.5 million to President Donald Trump, a transaction Stephen Colbert called a “big, fat bribe.”
After the Late Show ended, Jon Stewart’s 2004 prediction that one person would control all media resurfaced on Reddit.

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Story summary

Paramount Global announced a pending merger with Warner Bros. Discovery that would install Skydance CEO David Ellison as head and give the combined company ownership of HBO, MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, TBS, TNT, Discovery, Paramount+ and Pluto TV.
Paramount paid $16.5 million to President Donald Trump, a transaction Stephen Colbert called a “big, fat bribe.”
After the Late Show ended, Jon Stewart’s 2004 prediction that one person would control all media resurfaced on Reddit.