CNN staffers are bracing for the axe as Paramount’s takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery barrels toward the finish line.
“People are very nervous,” one CNN staffer told The Post. “It’s dark.”
The staffer compared the mood inside the network to covering a hurricane offshore and knowing it is headed straight for you.
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“You see the storm spinning off the coast of Haiti and moving towards Florida and you’re just waiting and you’re like, ‘Oh, s—t.’”
The nerves spiked after Paramount settled an antitrust fight with California and 11 other states Monday, removing a major legal obstacle to the deal. The settlement lifts the order blocking the companies from closing.
One TV executive was even more blunt.
“Bloodbath coming, including at CNN,” the executive told The Post. “That’s the next big step — slashing and burning.”
There is plenty of reason for staffers to sweat.
Paramount says it expects more than $6 billion in annual cost savings from the merger, including cuts to duplicative corporate operations, technology, infrastructure and real estate.
The company has pushed back on claims that its plan necessarily means deeper layoffs than rival merger proposals, but billions in targeted savings have fueled expectations of major belt-tightening across the combined company.
The $81 billion equity-value takeover would put CNN and CBS News under the same corporate roof, along with Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, HBO Max and Paramount+. The deal carries an enterprise value of roughly $110 billion.
More over at The New York Post:
CNN staffers panic over Paramount merger as layoffs loom in months ahead: ‘Bloodbath coming’ https://t.co/6JMsITBkZu pic.twitter.com/6OZrncYmEP
— New York Post (@nypost) September 22, 2026
