Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has called for an urgent investigation into President Donald Trump's approval of Paramount Global Inc.'s (NASDAQ:PARA) (NASDAQ:PARAA) $8 billion merger with Skydance, suggesting it may have involved a "big fat bribe."
What Happened: On Thursday, Warren took to X, formerly Twitter, posting a video accusing Trump of approving the high-profile Paramount-Skydance merger shortly after receiving a $16 million settlement payment from Paramount related to a "sham lawsuit" over a 60 Minutes interview.
"Trump approved Paramount’s $8 million merger with Skydance … This could be corruption," Warren said in the video. "Trump filed a sham lawsuit against CBS. But instead of fighting it, CBS's parent company, Paramount, paid Trump $16 million for his future presidential library."
Warren added, "The appearance of this wink-wink deal basically lets every other company and every other billionaire know that Trump is open for business… Bribery is still illegal."
Paramount, Skydance, Trump’s office and the White House did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comments.
Why It's Important: The Federal Communications Commission approved the Paramount-Skydance merger this week, including the transfer of licenses for 28 CBS-owned local TV stations.
The deal comes with Skydance's commitment to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and hire an ombudsman to address media bias.
Commissioner Anna Gomez, the lone Democrat on the three-member FCC panel, dissented, citing the payout to Trump and CBS's abrupt cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, which had criticized the deal, reported CNBC.
At the time, executives from Paramount and CBS stated that the cancellation was strictly a "financial decision" made in response to the difficult landscape facing late-night television.
Price Action: As of this writing, Paramount's Class A shares were trading at $23.49, up 1.38% in after-hours trading, while Class B shares rose 1.43% to $13.45, according to Benzinga Pro data.
Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings show that PARA maintains consistent upward momentum across short, medium and long-term periods. However, despite its solid value, the stock's quality rating remains comparatively lower. More detailed performance insights are available here.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
