David Ellison's "Coziness" With Donald Trump Is "Overstated", Paramount Backer Gerry Cardinale Says

Key Points:

• Gerry Cardinale, a Paramount board member and key figure in its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, stated that claims of CEO David Ellison being close to Donald Trump are exaggerated and emphasized that business relationships with the administration are standard for corporate America.
• Despite a lawsuit from Trump against Paramount-owned CBS News, regulators quickly approved Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, with Ellison and Paramount maintaining multiple interactions with the Trump administration during the deal process.
• Ellison and others have engaged with Trump through visits to Mar-a-Lago, events in Washington, and hosting functions related to the White House Correspondents Association, while CBS News under Ellison has made programming changes seen as overtures to the administration.
• Paramount's multi-billion-dollar UFC rights deal, with Trump attending UFC events including one at the White House, has raised questions about coziness, but Cardinale dismissed these as inappropriate inferences, citing other senior executives' similar interactions with Trump.
• Cardinale insisted there is no undue closeness between Ellison and Trump, calling such suggestions clickbait and emphasizing his close involvement with Ellison throughout the merger process.