Paramount in Settlement Talks With Trump Over '60 Minutes' Lawsuit

[ificandream]

Source: New York Times (gift article/no paywall)

By Lauren Hirsch, James B. Stewart and Michael M. Grynbaum
Jan. 30, 2025, 8:32 p.m. ET
When Donald J. Trump sued CBS for $10 billion days before the 2024 election, accusing the company of deceptively editing a “60 Minutes” interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, many legal experts dismissed the litigation as a far-fetched attempt to punish an out-of-favor news outlet.

Now Mr. Trump is back in the White House, and many executives at CBS’s parent company, Paramount, believe that settling the lawsuit would increase the odds that the Trump administration does not block or delay their planned multibillion-dollar merger with another company, according to several people with knowledge of the matter.

Settlement discussions between representatives of Paramount and Mr. Trump are now underway, according to three people with knowledge of the talks. There is no assurance, though, that they will result in a deal, and it is unclear what the terms of any such deal might include.

Shari Redstone, Paramount’s controlling shareholder, strongly supports the effort to settle, according to two people with knowledge of her thinking. Ms. Redstone stands to clear billions of dollars on the sale of Paramount, the media empire founded by her father Sumner Redstone, in a deal with Skydance, an entertainment company backed by the billionaire Larry Ellison and run by his son David.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/business/media/paramount-trump-cbs-news-settlement.html?unlocked_article_code=1.tU4.nlLi.JJMu19jHHVeM&smid=url-share

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Egad ..

[JBTaurus83]

1. Our media is so pathetic.

I can’t even watch any of them anymore.

[angrychair]

2. So no integrity at all

Seriously...what the fuck is going on.
Is it just about billionaires making more billions at the expense of everyone else? I'm trying as hard as I can keep engaged and positive but it's just soul crushing at this point. It's like the guy never loses and I just don't understand why.

[kysrsoze]

3. Fucking scumbags. All that matters to them is money.

[OldBaldy1701E]

17. Did you ever think there was a time when it didn't? (n/t)

[BidenRocks]

4. Just say NO!!!

Let chump stroke out over all the defiance!
WE are the United States and chump is chump!
Make him cry!

[Doodley]

5. It's a bribe under the guise of an out of court settlement.

[Woodycall]

6. This "Administration"

will be nothing more than one fucking continuous "rolling" shakedown in one form or another and it will continue until the people stop it, one way or the other. And if the "other" is risking our lives by taking it to the streets, so be it. It will only get worse going forward and the way it looks, even at this very early point, voting will NOT be an option.

[littlemissmartypants]

7. Even if they settle...

There's no guarantee that the deal goes through. These people are greedy and stupid. But they have cash to burn so who cares?

[tinymontgomery]

8. Glad I never signed up for their streaming service. n/t

[Prairie Gates]

9. cowards

Take the show off the air. It is of no value now.

[iemanja]

10. This appeasement of Trump has got to stop

They act like Neville Chamberlain.

[FakeNoose]

11. Sixty Minutes bent over backwards to help Chump get re-elected

I can't believe they're settling this lawsuit and paying Chump his "FU" money!

[RussBLib]

12. Trump will extort anyone and everyone

Trump could end up the richest criminal on the planet.

Nobody will stand up to this guy. America is turning into a nation of cowards.

[question everything]

13. He is getting it from all sides. Earlier we heard that Meta paid $25 million to settle a lawsuit

[Kid Berwyn]

14. Shakedown

NAZI gangster style.

[SunSeeker]

15. OMFG

[cstanleytech]

16. It's a payoff.

[OldBaldy1701E]

18. Bring lube, Paramount. He sure won't.

Worthless leeches.

[thesquanderer]

19. He's claiming "the harm done to him" -- what harm? He won! He can't even claim she got better treatment than he did...

...because he declined their invitation to be interviewed at all. So there's not even evidence of any kind of malicious attempt to edit her more favorably while editing him unfavorably (which I don't think would be evidence for a suit, but could provide ammunition for some kind of FCC action, if it could possibly be proven in some objective way).