As Paramount and Netflix war for the chance to alter the media universe by purchasing Warner Bros. Discovery, the folks at CNN have a more narrow focus — themselves.

Last week, Netflix put in an $83 billion bid, but on Monday Paramount owner David Ellison began a $108 billion hostile takeover bid. The winner gets CNN, which operates as a division of Waner Bros. Discovery, according to Fox News.

Within CNN, employees are hoping that Paramount, which has made wholesale changes at CBS since taking ownership of the network, falls short.

“I think there is a very small contingent who wants Paramount… most do not,” one CNN staffer said, as one admitted that as it stands, the network is in “chaos and crisis.”

Some of the fear of Paramount is due to Ellison.

“I don’t think most like it because they fear him meddling,” the CNN employee said.

However, another employee said there could be worse fates, fearing that if Netflix wins the bidding war, Warner Bros. and its components could be “totally chopped to pieces and whittled to the bone private equity style.”

Another employee said fears are rising of a “bloodbath” if Paramount wins the duel and combines CNN with CBS.

“They like editorial independence, and I think the reports of what CBS has gone through suggests that may not be the case where there to be a Paramount takeover,” one CNN employee said.

Ellison responded “yeah” in a Monday interview when asked about combining CNN and CBS, according to the Associated Press.

“We want to build a scaled news service that is basically, fundamentally, in the trust business, that is in the truth business, and that speaks to the 70% of Americans that are in the middle,” Ellison said.

Tom Johnson, former CNN president in the 1990s, said the real issue is not who owns the network, but how much freedom it gets.

“There is such a need for independent, unbiased news services,” Johnson said. “I so hope that the new CNN owners will see that as their fundamental mission.”

Trump: “I think any deal it should be guaranteed and certain that CNN is part of it, or sold separately. But I don’t think the people that are running that company right now and running CNN, which is a very dishonest group of people, I don’t that should be allowed to continue.” pic.twitter.com/ZaJzuYa7oW

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 10, 2025

President Donald Trump said he hopes that when the dust settles, CNN has new leadership, according to The Hill.

“It’s imperative that CNN be sold,” Trump said Wednesday. “I think CNN should be sold, because I think the people running CNN right now are either corrupt or incompetent.”

“I just think that the people that have run CNN into the ground, by the way … I don’t think they should be entrusted with running CNN any longer,” Trump said. “Any deal it should be guaranteed and certain that CNN is part of it or sold separately.”

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