The Ellisons may be MAGA- friendly, but there’s low odds they’re in this to kill CNN, as I will explain in a bit. Meanwhile, the likely scenario under the Netflix deal, according to my Wall Street sources, is far worse for the CNN rank-and-file: The cable channel, which still generates cash, will be spun off as part of a public company answering to public shareholders. Not fun, given the debt on its balance sheet and demands to show a profit.

Even worse, Wall Street executives say the network will ultimately be spun out of that spin­out and sold — likely to a rapacious private equity firm that sees news as a nuisance, opting to slash and burn to generate ever-bigger profits so it can eventually sell what’s left to somebody else.

Consider, for a moment, what the Ellisons are offering. Unlike Netflix, they’re buying not just the streaming and studio business, but the cable properties as well. People who work for the father-and-son duo say they want to grow cable as part of a global, integrated media empire that sells both CNN and CBS in cable packages.

CNN staffers are said to particularly loathe the idea they would be working for Bari Weiss, who runs CBS for the Ellisons and has moved the Tiffany Network to a more friendly posture to conservatives (aka the 77 million people who just voted for Donald Trump whom you want as viewers).

But Weiss is hardly channeling hard-line MAGA at CBS, and the Ellisons’ partner in the pursuit of WBD, RedBird Capital, is run by savvy veteran media banker Gerry Cardinale. He employs a handful of journalists, including former CNN anchor Chris Wallace and longtime CNN chief Jeff Zucker. Wallace, I understand, will play a key role in CNN’s future if Paramount Skydance prevails.

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Indeed, it’s CBS that could be moving its news-gathering operations to CNN’s Atlanta headquarters, I am told. It will be the Tiffany Network’s cash-strapped news operation that needs to downsize the most as they combine operations, which makes sense if you compare the numbers of both networks.

CNN churns out an estimated $500 million to $600 million in annual cash flow, I am told. (WBD doesn’t break out its financials; this is an estimate from an ex-senior exec.) That’s pretty darn good considering the network’s third-place ratings among the cable news giants, and it shows there’s a business here because cable news carriers believe it has an audience.

Ellisons wouldn’t kill it

It’s also why the Ellisons wouldn’t kill it as the many inside the network fear despite the fact cash flow has been halved from just five years ago. There will be cuts and those dreaded synergies that bankers talk about, but that’s a far better future than CNN being at the mercy of some PE bean counter.

No matter how much shade is thrown at Larry Ellison’s backstop of his son’s hostile offer for Warner Bros. Discovery, the Oracle co-founder is still worth more than $240 billion and will use it to invest in a business where CNN won’t be a nuisance but the tip of the spear in Paramount’s news operations.

And if you’re at CNN and worried about the Ellisons’ political motives (Larry was an early Trump supporter), I don’t think they’ll be Trump patsies. Based on recent comments by the president (he said they weren’t such great friends), neither does he.

Suffice to say, lots of paranoia here, and real proof that many journalists need to spend some time taking finance 101: Netflix in “winning” the monthslong WBD bake-off is just buying WBD’s Warner Bros. studio and HBO Max streaming service, while CNN and WBD’s other cable properties are spun out to the wilderness as a publicly traded company with an estimated $15 billion to $18 billion of debt.

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That’s right: A news company with lots of debt answering daily (based on its stock price) and quarterly (based on its earnings) to analysts and investors demanding a return in a business that’s declining because of cord cutting and more.

CNN has been busy slashing costs in recent years, but this means cuts will get steeper to make the numbers work given the trajectory of rising  debt service payments while cash flow from the cable properties is ­going in the opposite direction.

For the record, I’m not gloating over CNN’s uncertain future. True, I work at a competitor, Fox News, along with my duties at The Post, but I’m a journalist who believes the business needs to survive because you can’t have a functioning democracy without it. Trump rips the network’s political commentators, but CNN’s news product is formidable, with bureaus around the world reporting 24/7.

Journalism writ large is a tough business, so if you’re in it like I am, you better hope for an owner who doesn’t see news as a nuisance.

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Rank and file at the Wall Street giant fumed that end-of-year payouts, revealed internally two weeks ago, looked chintzy following a much-hyped revival in dealmaking last year, according to several Goldman workers who were interviewed by The Post.

“My typical bonuses have been 50% of base or more for all the years I have been with Goldman,” said one veteran banker who requested anonymity. “This time it is nowhere close.”

Meanwhile, the bank announced on Jan. 17 that CEO Solomon — who turned 63 on the same day — received a whopping $39 million in compensation for 2024, up a staggering 26% from the previous year.

Goldman insiders are fuming at the huge bonuses handed out to the bank’s top leadership, including a $39 million payday for CEO David Solomon. REUTERS

“When news of Solomon’s bonus was released, a lot of folks here just rolled their eyes,” one equities trader told The Post. “Of course, that is where our money went.”

The trader declined to give further details on pay amid fears of being identified, but called Goldman a “cult” that strings “us along by promising us promotions or money.”

Goldmanites likewise griped about the $80 million golden handcuffs bonus that will be paid out to Solomon if he sticks around for another five years.

By comparison, Solomon’s Wall Street rival, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, was paid $39 million last year and received a $50 million retention bonus in 2021 to stay in the top job until next year.

Anger inside the firm’s 200 West Street headquarters in Lower Manhattan had already reached a boiling point on Jan. 16, the day before Solomon’s package was disclosed when some staffers clocked out early to protest at the skimpy payouts, two sources told The Post.

Some Goldman employees claimed that top brass had trimmed compensation for the rank-and-file to help boost the bank’s quarterly and full-year earnings.

“There’s a lot of frustration, anger, and disappointment. It feels demotivating when leadership seems more focused on external perceptions than internal morale,” the first source said.

Goldman’s chief operating officer John Waldron was also handed a five-year $80 million golden handcuffs deal. AFP via Getty Images

Goldman Sachs spokesman Tony Fratto said: “This is a pay for performance business.”

According to results released on Jan. 17, Goldman profits hit a three-high year high, soaring 67% to $14 billion last year as merger and acquisition activity began to roar back to life on Wall Street following a post-COVID slump.

“There are lots of unhappy people here,” said one banker. “It would seem that the good results are partly due to squeezing compensation.”

The backlash over Goldman’s bonuses spilled over onto the Wall Street Oasis forum, a popular message board for New York financiers to vent against their higher-ups,

One first-year associate griped about getting a $135,000 bonus on top of a $200,000 as a base salary, saying he was “not happy with the number.”

“I was expecting more given the strong earnings,” the entry-level banker wrote.

Another banker seethed: “The bottom line for 2024 comp is this: the firm crushed it and a lot of people who made it happen were given cheap seats at the celebration.”

Two Goldman insiders said some traders had clocked off early on Thursday Jan. 16 after learning about the size of their bonuses. REUTERS

A note to clients by Wells Fargo analyst Mike Mayo shows that the bank’s overall compensation ratio is in fact down, dropping to 32% last year from 35% in 2023.

This key measurement shows how much in percentage terms of a bank’s net revenues ends up in the pockets of employees.

A baseline salary at Goldman starts at six figures, but staffers are usually handed performance-related rewards for their relentless 80-hour workweeks

Rank-and-file bankers can make $200,000 in base pay and a six-figure bonus, which are ordinarily paid out in a mix of stock options and cash.

Senior partners at the prestigious firm can regularly pick up eight-figure bonuses each year alongside a roughly $950,000 salary.

Fortune Magazine reported last week that bankers at JPMorgan were also unhappy with their payouts.

A report by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli had forecast that Wall Street bonuses were set to jump by 7.4% overall.

Some bankers were drowning their sorrows this past week amid unrest over their annual payouts. The Spaniard on West 4th Street is a popular watering hole close to Goldman Sachs. Instagram/ The Spaniard

Seasoned Wall Street watchers, opposed to the headline-grabbing “double bonuses” for senior management, argued that working at the firm brings its own benefits.

“The truth is that Goldman is a best-in-class global investment bank,” said Wells Fargo’s Mike Mayo.

“It is somewhat a microcosm of the industry. You need to pay and promote some people, while others just earn and churn. You make your money, you cash out and then the younger people move up,” he added.

While many Goldmanites grumbled about the size of their bonuses, it appears that some have found cause for some late New Year’s celebrations.

“We are selling a lot of champagne right now,” confessed one shop worker at the popular Vintry Fine Wines store underneath the Goldman Sachs headquarters in lower Manhattan.

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