Paramount Has Offered $15 Million to Settle CBS Lawsuit. Trump Wants More.
A month into negotiations between Paramount Global PARA 0.50% and President Trump to settle his lawsuit against CBS News, the parties remain far apart on terms.
Paramount Global in recent days has offered $15 million to settle, according to people familiar with the situation. Trump’s team wants more than $25 million and is also seeking an apology from CBS News, one of the people said.
Trump’s team has threatened another lawsuit against CBS related to alleged bias of its news coverage, according to the people. Wednesday is the deadline for Trump to respond to Paramount’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
Trump’s lawsuit against Paramount’s CBS News alleges the network deceitfully edited a “60 Minutes” interview with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris to make her sound better, and seeks $20 billion in damages. CBS has said the broadcast was “not doctored or deceitful.”
The parties have discussed a tentative mediation session set for Thursday, the people said.
Shari Redstone, Paramount’s controlling shareholder, has recused herself from negotiations with Trump’s team.
Paramount is expecting to nominate three new directors to the board in coming weeks—bringing the total to seven, people familiar with her plans said. One current director plans to step down, they said. Paramount wants to make sure it has a full board in place in case the merger deal falls through, those people said.
The lawsuit has hung over Paramount’s planned merger with Skydance Media and angered some CBS News executives and staff. Earlier this month, CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon told staff she is leaving the network, the second high-profile departure from the news unit. One point of tension between McMahon and Paramount was her unwillingness to issue an apology to Trump as part of any potential settlement of the lawsuit, The Wall Street Journal reported.
During the Trump-suit negotiations, one sticking point for Paramount executives has been whether a settlement could expose directors and officers to liability in potential future shareholder litigation or criminal charges for bribing a public official, according to people familiar with the conversations. By settling within the range of what other companies have paid to end litigation with Trump, some Paramount executives hope to minimize such liability, some of the people said.
Disney in December settled a defamation lawsuit against ABC News and star anchor George Stephanopoulos by contributing $15 million to Trump’s presidential foundation or museum and to pay $1 million in legal fees to Trump’s lawyer. Stephanopoulos had said on air that Trump had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll. A federal jury determined Trump was liable for sexual abuse.
In January, Meta agreed to pay $25 million to settle a 2021 lawsuit from Trump, after the social-media platform suspended his accounts following the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol. In February, X agreed to pay about $10 million to settle a similar suit.
Paramount, which owns CBS, its namesake production studio and several cable channels, is working to move its planned $8 billion merger through a federal review under the Trump administration.
Write to Jessica Toonkel at jessica.toonkel@wsj.com and Josh Dawsey at Joshua.Dawsey@WSJ.com
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