The key facts
- Trump called the possible appointment of Musk “definitely better than the current leadership” of CNN
- According to Semafor, Musk invested about a billion dollars in Skydance
- Paramount previously completed the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery for 81 billion dollars
Trump endorsed the idea of Elon Musk heading CNN
US President Donald Trump backed the idea of appointing Elon Musk as head of the CNN television channel. In a conversation with conservative journalist Benny Johnson, he spoke positively about such a prospect and criticized the media company's current leadership: “I like it. That would definitely be better than the current [leadership]. He's a good guy, he does a good job.”
Musk's investment and the holding's change of ownership
The conversation was prompted by reports of Musk's large investment in the Skydance media holding, which owns CNN: according to the Semafor portal, the owner of Tesla and SpaceX invested about a billion dollars in the company. It was after this information emerged that Johnson asked Trump about a possible change in the channel's leadership.
Context of the deal and the new owner's promises
Earlier Paramount, owned by Skydance, completed the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery for 81 billion dollars, as a result of which two major news channels — CNN and CBS — came under the control of a single owner. The media holding is headed by David Ellison, whose family maintains close ties with Trump; the president himself has repeatedly criticized both outlets, and in September his administration restricted CNN journalists' access to the White House. At the same time, Ellison promised to preserve the editorial independence of the acquired assets, and, as reported, Mark Thompson will continue to head CNN, while Bari Weiss will head CBS.
What is known and what remains unclear
So far, this is only about Trump's personal support for the idea and Semafor's report on the size of Musk's investment: the publication cites neither an official decision on the appointment nor confirmation of the deal itself from the companies. The question of whether the president's position will influence the holding's personnel policy remains open.
