Media executive David Ellison is reportedly hosting an “intimate” Washington dinner next week “honoring” President Donald Trump, whose administration is weighing whether to approve Ellison’s $111 billion bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery.
Ellison, CEO of CBS News parent company Paramount Skydance, will reportedly hold the dinner next Thursday at the U.S. Institute of Peace ahead of next weekend’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, according to the media newsletter Breaker and Variety. The event will also reportedly celebrate CBS’s White House reporters. It is unclear if President Trump has been invited to or will attend the event.
The Independent has contacted Paramount Skydance, CBS News, and the White House for comment and confirmation.
In February, Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery reached a merger agreement, with Ellison beating out rival Netflix to acquire Warner Bros., a media empire with marquee properties including CNN, HBO, and the Harry Potter franchise.
The merger is awaiting approval from federal regulators and Warner Bros. shareholders, who are scheduled to vote on the deal on April 23, the same day as the reported Ellison dinner.
In March, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth openly spoke of his support for the deal as he complained about media coverage of the Trump administration.
“The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better,” Hegseth said at a press conference on the Iran war.
CBS News has reportedly invited Hegseth and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller to the Correspondents’ Dinner as guests, according to Breaker.
More than 1,000 prominent Hollywood figures spoke out against the merger this week in an open letter.
“The result will be fewer opportunities for creators, fewer jobs across the production ecosystem, higher costs, and less choice for audiences in the United States and around the world,” they wrote. “Alarmingly, this merger would reduce the number of major U.S. film studios to just four."
Billionaire David Ellison and his father Larry Ellison, co-founder of the tech giant Oracle and a prominent donor to Republicans, have prior ties to the Trump administration.
The pair have been at the center of a series of highly scrutinized deals that have made them the most influential media kingpins of the second Trump era.
Last year, the Trump administration blessed the merger between David Ellison’s Skydance and Paramount, not long after the latter paid to settle a lawsuit from Trump.
After the acquisition was finalized, Ellison installed anti-woke commentator Bari Weiss as the new editor-in-chief of CBS News.
As The Independent has reported, under Weiss, observers have argued CBS News’s coverage has drifted in a more Trump-friendly direction, while staffers have groused that the network has become “state TV” for the administration.
In January, Trump told CBS Evening News anchor Tony Dokoupil he “wouldn't have a job right now” if Democrats had won the 2024 election.
Larry Ellison’s Oracle is part of an investor group that now has majority control of the U.S. version of TikTok, after the Trump White House pressured the social media app to spin off its American operations.
Oracle is part of Stargate, a joint venture among tech firms to build up to $500 billion in new AI infrastructure in the U.S. The White House has publicly touted the deal as part of its “America First” tech agenda.
Oracle also helped sponsor the administration’s Washington D.C. military parade celebrating the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army.
The Trump administration has brushed off suggestions its ties to the Ellisons will influence its merger review in the Warner Bros. deal.
“The idea that somehow enforcement has been politicized is ludicrous,” Justice Department antitrust official Omeed Assefi told Reuters in March.
Trump is expected to attend this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, after more a decade of skipping the event, where President Barack Obama memorably skewered him in 2011.
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