Paramount Skydance is moving toward completing its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery after settling litigation with 12 U.S. states and the Writers Guild of America. The transaction would combine Paramount’s entertainment businesses with HBO, CNN, TNT, MTV, Discovery+ and Warner Bros. Discovery’s other assets, while giving David Ellison broad influence over CNN and CBS News. The settlement requires a five-member editorial independence board for CNN and CBS News within 180 days of closing, but does not clearly grant investigative powers, require public findings or make its decisions binding. Employees are also preparing for possible layoffs and competition among overlapping engineering, marketing, advertising, streaming and newsroom teams as Paramount targets $6 billion in cost savings. Ellison said he hoped to close the transaction in approximately two weeks, although integration plans remained unresolved.