Trumpy Billionaire David Ellison’s Offer to CNN Staff Backfires Spectacularly

The cost-cutting measures mean that a number of CNN staff will opt for a buyout rather than stay with the network.

Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

The Ellisons’ news gamble has not paid off.

The Trump-affiliated billionaire family has promised its Wall Street backers that it will find $6 billion in savings after Skydance purchased Warner Bros. Discovery.

As part of that, David Ellison is offering staff at its newly acquired Mark Thompson-led CNN and pre-existing Bari Weiss-headed CBS News the opportunity to take a lucrative buyout to leave the company by the end of the year.

Skydance is headed by David Ellison, Larry’s son.

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

However, things have gone sideways for the Paramount ownership after enthusiasm for the deal outpaced expectations, according to a new report from Status.

It learned that staff it would have hoped to keep a hold of have opted instead to take the buyout, suspecting that it will present a better deal than the layoffs that are rumored to follow afterward.

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CNN hasn’t offered any buyouts since 2019, Status noted, which means some staff may have been holding on for exactly this moment.

Bari Weiss’ CBS payouts are slightly different from the ones being offered at CNN.

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

“The reality is, the package they get if they’re fired or let go as part of a restructuring—it will likely not be as good as this offer,” one unnamed veteran TV host told it.

Senior managers in CNN’s New York bureau as well as veterans in the Atlanta HQ have also accepted the deal.

It’s lucrative too, with most eligible staff being offered three weeks of service per year served, worth up to two years’ salary.

Staff under CNN CEO Mark Thompson have to have served 15 years at the company.

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Warner Bros. Di

Eligible CNN staffers need 15 years of service and a job title no higher than vice-president. That means everyone who can take the deal will get at least 10 months’ worth of pay.

What was supposed to be a savings effort has instead become an opportunity for expertise and talent to walk out on their own terms, the newsletter reported. Two staffers told the outlet it amounted to “a drain of institutional knowledge,” or “brain and production drain.”

Larry Ellison is aligned with Trump.

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

As part of the deal, leadership cannot take staff aside to discuss the specific situation and, as such, people who would not have been in any danger of losing their jobs in the rumored following round of layoffs have taken the opportunity regardless, Status reports.

CBS News has reached out with a different model than CNN, offering two weeks’ pay per year served to most staffers, rather than only to those with a decade-and-a-half of service, as at its new sister network.

Status reported that top-level executives are offered better terms.

The timing was imperfect too, with staff asked to make a big decision about their futures during midterm coverage. Those who take the cut do so just before the holidays.

The Daily Beast has contacted CBS News, CNN, and Skydance for comment.

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