• by Wayne Friedman , July 2, 2025

Paramount Global’s stock price sank in mid-day trading following the release of news of a $16 million settlement with the Trump Administration over a lawsuit filed last fall.

Paramount’s stock price was down 1% to $13.05 in mid-day Wednesday trading. 

The lawsuit, originally filed in October 2024, alleged that an interview which aired on CBS’s "60 Minutes" last year with Kamala Harris, the Democratic opponent for the presidency, was deceptively edited. 

Paramount has been in the process of attempting to get FCC approval of its $8 billion merger with Skydance Media -- a definitive agreement that was signed in July 2024.

Over the last 12 months, Paramount stock grew 21%.

A Paramount statement says:  “This lawsuit is completely separate from, and unrelated to, the Skydance transaction and the FCC approval process.”  

The $16 million payment will go to building a future Trump presidential library. Paramount said the “settlement does not include a statement of apology or regret.”

For the just-completed 2024-2025 season, "60 Minutes" averaged 8.32 million viewers -- a slight drop from the 8.35 million viewers the previous season.

National TV advertising revenues grew 6.4% to $69.9 million from July 3, 2024 to July 2, 2025, according to EDO Ad EnGage --  this from 1,220 commercial airings. 

EDO also says the average search engagement in the minutes after an advertising message ran on the show dropped 14% year-over-year to 3,650.

Reports also say the show posted a 1% increase in minutes consumed across linear and streaming platforms for the 2024-2025 season -- a total of 16 billion minutes -- as well as a 73% increase in total video views across social media platforms.