Executives at Paramount are preparing an all-cash offer to acquire rival entertainment giant Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), according to a report published on Thursday.
Paramount is preparing an offer to acquire Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) in an all-cash transaction, according to a report published on Thursday.
The report, from the Wall Street Journal, says the bid involves an all-cash offer that will be financially backed by the family of David Ellison, Paramount’s current CEO. Ellison was appointed CEO after his movie studio, Skydance Media, merged with Paramount last month.
The offer would involve all of WBD’s properties, including its movie studio, streaming platforms and cable networks business. WBD is in the process of separating its cable networks into a separate unit called Discovery Global.
A merger between Paramount and WBD would bring together some of the most-recognized media properties on the planet, including:
- Television networks CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, BET, Showtime, the Movie Channel, CNN, the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Cartoon Network, HBO and Cinemax.
- Streaming platforms Pluto TV, Paramount Plus, HBO Max and Discovery Plus.
- Movie studios Paramount Pictures, Skydance Media and Warner Bros Studios.
Financial terms of the deal were not reported by the Journal. The outlet’s article, which spanned just four paragraphs as of Thursday afternoon, cited unnamed sources.
Paramount’s bid for WBD was intentionally timed to occur before the company split off its cable networks, the Journal said, adding that the company wants to avoid “a potential bidding war for the studio and streaming unit that could include deep-pocketed technology companies like Amazon.com and Apple.”
With the proposed bid involving a significant amount of media properties, the deal is likely to involve regulatory and antitrust scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Justice. It would likely not require approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), since WBD doesn’t hold TV broadcast licenses and Paramount would not be transferring their CBS-held licenses to WBD. The FCC’s scrutiny of CBS broadcast licenses were the primary reason for a prolonged delay in Paramount’s merger with Skydance.
Shares of WBD were trading 33 percent higher immediately after the Journal’s report was published. Paramount’s stock price was up around 8 percent.
