By Hafiz Rashid ,
54 minutes ago
Elon Musk may soon have a stake in two of the largest television news operations in the U.S., thanks to the Paramount merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.
Semafor reports that Paramount Skydance executives are looking for sources of cash and are considering asking the tech oligarch and world’s richest man to join a team of equity investors in the company. Musk is one of multiple candidates that Paramount CEO David Ellison is considering, and if it happens, the Tesla CEO would own stakes in both CBS and CNN.
Musk already has a close relationship with Ellison’s father, Oracle founder Larry Ellison. In 2022, the elder Ellison invested $1 billion into Musk’s effort to take over Twitter (now X), and he also invested in Tesla in 2018, later serving on its board of directors.
Musk’s involvement in the merger would have alarming implications for the state of the free press, as his far-right views have become increasingly prevalent on his social media platform, X. The Ellisons’ ownership of CBS has led to a conservative turn at the network, with reactionary Bari Weiss being named editor in chief and gutting its signature news shows, CBS Evening News and 60 Mi...