David Ellison in Early Talks With Bari Weiss to Acquire The Free Press: Report

Skydance founder and CEO David Ellison has begun early talks with opinion journalist Bari Weiss about acquiring her online publication, The Free Press.

The acquisition talks between Ellison and Weiss, first reported by The New York Times, are in early stages and “a deal between Skydance and The Free Press is far from certain.”

Both parties will be attending the yearly Sun Valley summit held by investment firm Allen & Company – a company that also owns shares in Weiss’ publication – where many media moguls have been known to cut deals.

“In recent months, a handful of media owners have reached out to Ms. Weiss for advice on ways to improve their media properties, and some of that outreach has led to discussions about acquiring The Free Press,” the Times reports, adding:

Mr. Ellison’s talks with Ms. Weiss include a variety of options in which the burgeoning media mogul could work with Ms. Weiss, one of the people said. Among the many options being discussed include Ms. Weiss’s taking on an influential role in shaping the editorial sensibilities of CBS News, though she would likely not join in a managerial capacity, one of the people said.

Ellison had reportedly reached out to Weiss in June about a possible position at CBS News. He is expected to head up the network once his company’s merger with Paramount, CBS’s current parnet company, is finalized.

The deal that would give Ellison’s Skydance control of CBS has kept him in the news in recent months due to Paramount’s controversial legal proceedings with President Donald Trump. 

Trump sued the network in November, alleging they edited an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris in an effort to make her appear in a better light. CBS’s parent company settled the suit in early July, with many believing that the company’s chairwoman, Shari Redstone, did so to ease FCC scrutiny of the merger.

Weiss started the publication in 2022 with her wife, Nellie Bowles, and her sister, Suzy, after drawing headlines with a biting resignation letter from The New York Times. Her publication, which began as the newsletter Common Sense in 2021, quickly became a media juggernaut, with over a million subscribers.