Paramount Skydance is reportedly preparing a takeover offer for Warner Bros Discovery, in a bid to pull together two of the largest US legacy media conglomerates and Hollywood movie studios.
Less than a month after Skydance, a production firm run by David Ellison, son of the billionaire tech mogul Larry Ellison, closed its merger with Paramount, the firm is considering other blockbuster deals.
Combining Paramount with WBD would reshape the US entertainment and media industry, shifting prominent brands in TV, cinema and news – from South Park and Superman to CNN and 60 Minutes – together for the first time.
Paramount is preparing a majority cash bid for WBD that would be backed by the Ellison family, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited unnamed sources familiar with the situation. Paramount and WBD did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Shares in WBD surged by as much as 34% following the report, and closed up 29% on Thursday. The firm owns an array of media assets, including the Warner Bros movie studios; CNN, the news network; the DC Comics franchise; and a string of TV networks, including HBO.
Paramount also owns the storied Paramount Pictures studios, as well as TV broadcasters including CBS in the US, Channel 5 in the UK, Comedy Central and MTV.
David Ellison has moved quickly since sealing control of the conglomerate in August, striking a $7.7bn (£5.7bn) deal to become the exclusive US broadcaster of the Ultimate Fighting Championship; signing an exclusive contract with the Duffer brothers, who created Stranger Things; and agreeing a deal with the video games publisher Activision to produce a movie based on the Call of Duty franchise.
Decisions made under Ellison around the future of CBS News – one of the biggest news operations in the US, which is behind 60 Minutes, the most watched news program on network television – have attracted intense scrutiny.
CBS News became a flashpoint as Ellison sought approval for his deal for Paramount. Shortly before the deal closed this summer, it reached a controversial settlement with Donald Trump over what he claimed was misleading editing of a pre-election 60 Minutes interview with the Democratic candidate for president, Kamala Harris.
Earlier this week, Paramount announced that Kenneth Weinstein – a conservative policy veteran who Trump nominated to be US ambassador to Japan in 2020 – would become ombudsman for CBS News, monitoring allegations of bias and audience complaints.
Ellison is widely reported to be on the verge of acquiring the Free Press, an online publication co-founded by Bari Weiss and noted for its “anti-woke” politics, with the New York Times reporting this week that Weiss, its former columnist, had been lined up for a senior role at CBS News.
Any deal for WBD would raise questions over the implications for CNN, which has also faced heavy criticism from Trump over coverage he has not liked.
WBD was formed by the merger of Warner Media and Discovery in April 2022. After a tough few years, its CEO, David Zaslav – who put together the initial merger – announced plans to split the company into two in June.
Mike Proulx, vice-president at Forrester Research, suggested a takeover of WBD by Paramount would “redefine the streaming landscape” were it to materialize. “This could be good for consumers in the form of cost savings, but it also would reduce marketplace choice,” he said. “What’s clear is that as the streaming market matures, it’s looking a whole lot like the OG television industry – all the way back to when there were just a few big networks and studios.”
Robert Weissman, co-president of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, argued any attempt by Paramount to acquire WBD “should plainly be struck down” by regulators on antitrust grounds. “But there’s grave reason to worry that the Trump administration would rubber-stamp such a merger, giving a pass to a corporate marriage that would advance its ideological agenda,” he said.
Approving a Paramount-WBD tie-up “would confirm that, for all its tough talk on antitrust, the Trump regime is intent simply on using antitrust as another weaponized tool: a means to punish perceived opponents and reward ideological allies”, Weissman added.
