Outlet profile

CNN Business

U.S. center-left

Owned byWarner Bros. Discovery; pending acquisition by Paramount Skydance (deal approved by WBD shareholders April 2026, expected to close Q3 2026)

FundingCable affiliate fees and advertising in roughly equal shares; expanding digital subscription revenue as CNN pivots away from cable

On the administrationbroadly critical

Background

CNN Business traces its origins to CNNfn, a 24-hour cable financial channel CNN launched in 1995, and to CNNMoney, a website that began in 2001 as a joint venture between CNN and Time Inc.'s Money and Fortune magazines. CNN fully bought out Time Inc.'s stake in CNNMoney in June 2014 and rebranded the property as CNN Business in October 2018, consolidating CNNMoney and CNN Tech under one banner with a focus on corporate disruption and the digital economy. The parent network, CNN, was founded June 1, 1980, by Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as the world's first 24-hour all-news cable channel, headquartered in Atlanta. Time Warner absorbed CNN through its 1996 purchase of Turner Broadcasting; after further mergers, CNN passed to WarnerMedia and then to Warner Bros. Discovery when that company was formed in 2022. Warner Bros. Discovery signed a merger agreement with Paramount Skydance in February 2026, and WBD shareholders approved the deal in April 2026, placing CNN's future editorial direction under David Ellison. AllSides rates CNN's digital news content as 'Lean Left' with high confidence as of 2026, a characterization consistent with longstanding criticism from the political right that CNN reflects a liberal-establishment viewpoint. CNN Business has faced the same institutional headwinds as CNN overall: eroding cable ratings, layoffs tied to a digital pivot, and, during Trump's second term, exclusion from Pentagon press access and FCC demands for 'accountability' over specific coverage decisions.

Sources

Profile compiled 2026-06-25; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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