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Ellison’s Foreign Funding Furor

While David Ellison is vowing to protect CNN’s independence as he prepares to take over Warner Bros. Discovery, Democratic senators are raising fresh concerns to Status about Paramount’s expected use of foreign money in the deal.

Oliver Darcy
Oliver Darcy

Mar 11, 2026

Ellison’s Foreign Funding Furor

While David Ellison is vowing to protect CNN’s independence as he prepares to take over Warner Bros. Discovery, Democratic senators are raising fresh concerns to Status about Paramount’s expected use of foreign money in the deal.

Oliver Darcy
Oliver Darcy

Mar 11, 2026

Paramount boss David Ellison. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

On Tuesday, speaking from the Steven J. Ross Theatre on the iconic Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, David Ellison made his first in-person appearance before senior executives at Warner Bros. Discovery. Introduced by David Zaslav to a crowd of film and television honchos, Ellison addressed a number of issues weighing on the company’s workforce, including the painful layoffs on the horizon as Paramount and WBD merge and identify so-called “synergies” after the deal closes.

As Ellison fielded questions, the fate of CNN naturally came up. Ellison, Status has learned, said it is an “honor” to be “one of the stewards of CNN.” He praised the outlet’s recent coverage of the Iran war, saying he has the network on “24 hours a day,” either in his office or at his home. The 43-year-old spoke again about being in the “truth business,” and perhaps most importantly, said…

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Oliver Darcy

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