NY Post is reporting that a secret side deal led to the settlement and saved the proposed merger that Trump might have otherwise killed.
In addition to the 16 million bribe to Trump, David Ellison, son of Larry and the guy who will run Paramount, agreed to put up 15 million to fund PSA's for Conservative efforts that Trump approves of.
Paramount is denying the rumor because as the NY Post reported, one of the big fears they had was bribery charges over the payment to Trump, but with this other part of the deal they essentially protect that as Ellison is paying out money not them, and because with Trumps approval who exactly is going to file bribery charges with Trump controlling the DOJ?
So yes the article very clearly suggests Trump wanted Colbert fired and the bribe and firing of Colbert went along with the Ellison payout