Paramount Skydance has acquired The Free Press, marking the first major editorial move made by the company since it was brought together. The news outlet founded by journalist Bari Weiss was put on the market for approximately $150 million. As a part of the acquisition, Weiss will be the new editor in chief for CBS News, the company announced on Monday.
Launched in 2021 by Weiss along with her wife Nellie Bowles and sister Suzy Weiss, The Free Press has positioned itself as a platform for “fearless, independent journalism,” offering a counter-narrative to what it describes as ideological rigidity in mainstream media. The publication has reportedly built a subscriber base of 1.5 million, including 170,000 paid members, and generates over $15 million in annual subscription revenue, according to Paramount Skydance.
“This partnership allows our ethos of fearless, independent journalism to reach an enormous, diverse, and influential audience,” Weiss said in a statement. “We honor the extraordinary legacy of CBS News by committing ourselves to building the most trusted news organization of the 21st century.”
Weiss, who will report directly to David Ellison, CEO of Paramount Skydance, left The New York Times in 2020 after criticising what she called the paper’s “illiberal environment.” Her appointment comes as the newly merged media group looks to re-establish CBS News as a trusted national news brand amid declining credibility and intensifying political scrutiny in the US.
A shift in editorial direction
Ellison, son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, described the acquisition as part of a broader effort to modernise CBS News and strengthen its commitment to impartiality. “Bari is a proven champion of independent, principled journalism,” he said. “Her entrepreneurial drive and editorial vision will invigorate CBS News and help us connect directly, and passionately, with audiences around the world.”
The move also aligns with commitments Paramount Skydance made to US regulators during the merger approval process, to enhance editorial transparency and include an ombudsman to investigate complaints of political bias at CBS News.
The decision comes against a fraught backdrop. Paramount and CBS recently settled a $16-million lawsuit with former President Donald Trump over a 60 Minutes interview with then–Vice President Kamala Harris, and the network remains under FCC investigation for alleged “news distortion.”
Since the merger’s completion in August, Ellison has been on an acquisition and content expansion spree. The company signed a seven-year, $7.7-billion media rights deal with TKO Group to become the exclusive home of UFC broadcasts in the US from 2026, followed by a long-term rights partnership with Zuffa Boxing, the new combat sports venture by TKO and Saudi entertainment conglomerate Sela.
On the entertainment front, Paramount Skydance has secured film rights to develop a live-action adaptation of Activision’s Call of Duty franchise, entered into a three-year distribution pact with Legendary Entertainment, and brought on the Duffer Brothers, creators of Netflix’s Stranger Things, for new projects.
The company is also reportedly exploring a potential acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, a deal that could reshape the global media landscape.
To support its expansion, Ellison has made several key hires, including Makan Delrahim, former US antitrust chief and Skydance’s legal advisor during the merger, as chief legal officer; Dane Glasgow, a former executive at Meta and Google, as chief product officer; and Dennis Cinelli, CFO of Scale AI, as an independent board director.
A merger of ideals and influence
The Free Press acquisition underscores Ellison’s broader ambition,to combine journalistic independence with technological scale. With Weiss taking the editorial reins at CBS News, Paramount Skydance appears poised to rebuild public trust in one of America’s oldest broadcast institutions, while pushing its news division into a new, digitally led era.