CNN contributor Kara Swisher says she will exit the network "as soon as possible" now that the Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery merger has cleared its last major legal hurdle, calling the Ellison family unfit to run a news organization.
Swisher used her Tuesday episode of the "Pivot" podcast to announce she is done trying to find a way to stay. California Attorney General Rob Bonta had dropped his lawsuit blocking the merger just a day earlier, reaching a settlement with Paramount that included a minimum number of annual film releases and other undisclosed terms. For Swisher, that was the final signal.
The podcaster and longtime tech-media commentator had warned back in June that she would walk if the deal went through, calling Paramount CEO David Ellison and his father, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, "incompetent." On Tuesday she stopped hedging, telling her co-host Scott Galloway she had briefly explored a licensing arrangement that might let her keep working with CNN without technically working for the Ellisons. She abandoned the idea.
"I'm just, I just can't. I just, I thought like I was trying to figure out ways I could work with them in some like licensing way. But then I thought, f, k these guys! I don't want to work for them. I just don't."
She added: "I think they are terrible media owners." She did note she has "a lot of regard for the executives there now", a nod to CNN's current leadership, which will soon answer to Ellison.
Galloway did not exactly beg her to reconsider. His response landed somewhere between sympathy and a reality check.
"I think there's a decent likelihood that when you show up to whoever it is you show up to at CNN and say, I want out of my contract, they jump up and say, 'Congratulations, no problem.'"
Swisher laughed it off, saying her remaining time at CNN amounts to "a few months" before David Ellison's reign begins. "I got too much to do with you, Scott Galloway," she said.
Whether Swisher has formally notified CNN or is simply making her intentions public through her podcast remains unclear. The nature and duration of her contract have not been disclosed.
Galloway reserved his sharpest criticism not for the Ellisons but for the regulators who tried, and failed, to block the merger. Bonta and eleven other state attorneys general had challenged the deal, framing it as a dangerous concentration of media power. The settlement that ended the fight struck Galloway as hollow.
"Regulators started out saying this is Godzilla, it's an existential threat to humanity and they settled by saying, we'll make more movies about Godzilla."
He went further, accusing Bonta of political calculation:
"This is total weak sauce. This is Rob Bonta deciding he wants to run for governor and giving in to populist bulls***. I don't like the concentration of media, but the bottom line is when you do the math, and you look at antitrust law, there was no legal leg to stand on here."
That characterization, that Bonta used the lawsuit as a gubernatorial audition, is Galloway's opinion, not a confirmed fact. But the outcome speaks for itself: the suit is gone, the merger is moving forward, and Paramount's concessions amounted to a film-release commitment and unspecified additional steps.
Swisher is not the only person at CNN watching the calendar. An unnamed television executive told the New York Post that a "bloodbath" is coming across the merged company, including at CNN.
"That's the next big step, slashing and burning."
The identity of that executive was not disclosed, and no specific layoff numbers or timelines have been made public. But the fear is real enough to have generated internal anxiety well before Ellison formally takes the reins.
At CBS News, the other major news division under the Paramount umbrella, David Ellison has already made his editorial priorities clear. He installed Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief, and Fox News reported that Ellison acquired Weiss's outlet, The Free Press, for $150 million. Weiss has shaken up CBS under what the Post described as "an Ellison mandate to bring balance to the outlet." Whether she will play a similar role at CNN remains an open question.
Swisher's hostility toward the Ellisons is not new and not limited to corporate governance concerns. At a Syracuse University event earlier this year, she called Larry Ellison "a terrible person" and said she believes Paramount has "no interest in journalism" based on editorial decisions already made under Ellison's influence.
She also confirmed that Paramount representatives had been reaching out to her in what she described as a "friendly" manner, suggesting the company tried to retain her before she went public with her exit plans. She was unmoved.
"I don't think they'll be good owners. I don't. I think they've already shown several times, including editorial choices, which Scott knows a lot... that they have no interest in journalism. And I refuse to work for an organization that doesn't respect journalists."
Larry Ellison, a close ally of President Trump's, provided the financial backing that made the merger possible. For Swisher, a journalist known for her sharp commentary on Elon Musk and other tech and media figures, the political alignment appears to be part of the problem, though she has framed her objections primarily around competence and editorial independence.
The Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery combination faced resistance from state regulators, media watchdogs, and on-air talent. None of it mattered. Bonta's lawsuit was the most significant legal barrier, and it ended with a settlement that even the deal's critics dismissed as toothless. Eleven state attorneys general joined the effort and walked away with a promise about movie output.
David Ellison now controls a media empire spanning Paramount, CBS News, and CNN, three of the most recognizable brands in American media. His early moves at CBS, including the Weiss appointment, signal that he intends to put his stamp on the editorial direction of every outlet under his umbrella. CNN staffers waiting to learn their fate have every reason to pay attention.
Swisher, for her part, has made her choice. She tried to find a workaround, couldn't stomach it, and said so on a podcast listened to by the very industry she covers. Whether CNN lets her walk quietly or holds her to the remaining months of her contract is a question neither side has answered publicly.
When a contributor announces her departure by cursing out her future bosses on a rival platform, the negotiation is already over. The only question left is whether anyone at the new Paramount-CNN notices she's gone.
