On Wednesday, CNN chief Mark Thompson boarded a flight from New York to Los Angeles with his inner circle, ostensibly to attend the California gubernatorial debate, which the network hosted that evening. But a far more important item was quietly tucked into his agenda: a visit to the Paramount lot.

For weeks, as Status reported, Thompson had been in the dark about his future at CNN, where he has served as chief executive and editor in chief for about three years. While David Ellison courted other executives at Warner Bros. Discovery as Paramount circled the media conglomerate, the Oracle scion had largely given Thompson the cold shoulder. Even as recently as last week, when Thompson held a town hall with staffers and was peppered with questions about the network's future, he conceded he had few real answers to offer.