Is Warner Bros. gonna merge with Paramount?

[Hawkee]

Today I learned that Paramount and Warner Bros are gonna merge into one movie studio and I would love to know if it is true? If Warner Bros and Paramount merge into one movie studio does this mean that Warner Bros movies may be added to Paramount+. Also how much is this deal expected to be if it really does happen?

[Hawkee]

What I think will happen if the Paramount/Warner Bros merge goes through I think all the Warner Bros movies will now be released through Paramount Pictures and the entire Warner Bros movie library will be added to Paramount+ and I also think Paramount is gonna launch a new movie studio with Warner Bros to create all new movies. Because when you get the general picture I think Paramount Pictures has been wanting to get their hands on Warner Bros and this merge might be the answer they have been waiting for

[TMC]

Paramount Skydance is preparing a bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery

The Ellison family "bid will be for the entire company, including its cable networks and movie studio," reports The Wall Street Journal's Jessica Toonkel. "Warner said late last year it planned to restructure into two operating divisions, one focused on the legacy cable-television business and the other on streaming and studios. Such a deal would be a big swing. Warner Bros.’s nearly $33 billion market capitalization is more than double that of Paramount Skydance. A bid hasn’t yet been submitted and the plans could still fall apart. Warner shares were up 26% after The Wall Street Journal’s report on the potential bid. Paramount Skydance shares were up 9.1%. By preparing a play for the company before Warner’s planned split, Paramount Skydance is attempting to pre-empt a potential bidding war for the studio and streaming unit that could include deep-pocketed technology companies such as Amazon.com and Apple. If successful, such a deal would bring together two of Hollywood’s most storied studios and the parent companies of streaming services HBO Max and Paramount+." As Toonkel points out, "the scale of the potential combination could bring antitrust and regulatory scrutiny." There has been talk of a Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger going back two years.

[TMC]

5 Reasons A Paramount-Warner Bros Merger Could Wreck Hollywood Forever

BY REUBEN BARON SEPT. 18, 2025 4:43 PM EST

Little over a month has passed since the deal to merge Paramount Global and David Ellison's Skydance Media officially closed, yet already we're hearing news about plans for an even bigger merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery. Combining two of the biggest companies in the entertainment industry would change Hollywood forever ... and almost certainly not in a good way.

Based on the history of giant corporate mergers in the past, even the realistic best case scenario for a WB-Paramount merger is going to have severe collateral damage. In the worst case scenario, it wrecks the mainstream movie and TV business forever — and in light of some of Ellison's stated business priorities and the controversial actions which Paramount took to get its most recent merger approved, there's reason to suspect this would be closer to the worst case than the best case. This article will examine five different reasons to hope that Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav rejects Ellison's offer (and that regulators block it if he doesn't).

Bad for movies

Until its merger with Disney was finalized in 2019, 20th Century Fox released between 11 and 25 films in wide release every year of the 21st century. Since the Disney merger, 20th Century Studios' theatrical output has been reduced to between three and five movies per year (six in 2025 if you count its copyright holder status on "The Fantastic Four: First Steps"). Fox's CG animation studio Blue Sky got shut down. The arthouse branch Searchlight has experienced similar reductions, with only three films released theatrically in 2025. Some of this can be blamed on sending more movies straight to streaming, but the fact of the matter is when two different movie studios become one, they're not gonna make as many films as they did before.

Going from six major studios in Hollywood to just five has already been hard on theaters. Going from five to four would be disastrous. After some years of struggle amidst the Discovery merger, Warner Bros. has finally had a consistent string of theatrical success stories this year, releasing films hugely popular with critics ("One Battle After Another"), general audiences ("Minecraft"), and both ("Sinners"). Paramount hasn't had the same success this year, but it's still made valuable contributions to the theatrical landscape with comedies like "The Naked Gun" and crowd-pleasers like "Roofman." How many great WB and Paramount films might not even be greenlit in a merged company not willing to spend as much money on risks?

Bad for TV

Linear TV hasn't been in the best place lately. If the Paramount deal doesn't go through, Warner Bros. is already planning to spin off its cable TV networks (with the exceptions of HBO and Turner Classic Movies) into a separate debt-laden company. The Paramount deal, however, would prevent this split — and who knows what would happen to the various WB and Paramount networks under such a merger.

When Disney and 20th Century merged, the two companies' individual TV networks managed to survive by virtue of not being in direct competition with one another. Disney didn't have a prestige cable network like FX and Fox didn't have a kids' network like Disney Channel, and the merger pointedly did not include the FOX broadcast network, FOX News, or FOX Sports (all of which remain active competitors to Disney's ABC and ESPN). WB and Paramount, on the other hand, have a lot more direct competition between their networks.

Would Showtime still exist if its parent company already has HBO in the premium cable space? Do Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network merge into a black-white-and-orange blob? While reduced competition might sound appealing to streaming customers wishing to subscribe to fewer separate services, it's sure to be bad for the variety of television programming out there.

Bad for journalism

This is perhaps the most urgent reason this merger shouldn't happen, because it's the one where we already have the most evidence of disaster. While in the process of Paramount's merger with Skydance, CBS News settled with the Trump administration for $16 million over allegedly unfavorable editing of a "60 Minutes" interview — a lawsuit experts say CBS easily could have won. Shortly after Stephen Colbert criticized this settlement, it was announced "The Late Show" wouldn't be renewed with any host. The "South Park" guys are lucky they got a $1.5 billion deal just before their new season started, allowing them (for now) to mock their corporate overlords' bad decisions, hopefully without negative consequence.

Paramount is now looking at buying right-wing outlet The Free Press and putting owner Bari Weiss in charge of CBS News. If that's the current state of journalism and political commentary at Paramount-owned outlets, the idea that Paramount could soon also own CNN should be a huge red flag for anyone who cares about an actually free press that won't just kowtow to a lawsuit-happy President.

Bad for workers

Six days before David Ellison announced his intentions to buy the studio, Warner Bros. became the third movie studio, after Universal and Disney, to sue the AI company Midjourney for copyright infringement. Maybe the timing here is purely coincidental. But consider that David's father Larry is one of the single biggest investors in the AI boom via his tech company Oracle, and that David's vision for Paramount involves using AI. An Ellison-owned WB would almost certainly lean more heavily towards a pro-AI stance — something many in Hollywood would consider an anti-worker stance.

But even aside from the heightened threat of AI taking away jobs, a WB-Paramount merger would result in tremendous job losses because that's what corporate mergers do. Thousands of Fox employees lost their jobs during the Disney merger, and the same is unavoidable a WB-Paramount merger. Given film and TV workers have been facing increasing work shortages since the streaming boom began to burst, now might be the absolute worst time for yet more merger-driven layoffs.

Bad for culture at large

Let's be unrealistically optimistic for a second and imagine the best possible scenario for a WB-Paramount merger. Hypothetically, let's say it's a well-run business that still produces just as much film and TV as the separate companies did individually, drops Paramount's current censorship-happy attitude, and takes a strictly ethical and human-centered approach to AI with few if any layoffs.

Even in that unlikely scenario, the merger would still be a bad idea, on the simple grounds that corporate consolidation and monopolistic practices are bad for the culture. No one individual or family should have that much power over all mainstream media (and we haven't even touched upon how much power the Ellison family will have if Oracle also acquires TikTok). The functionality of a capitalist system depends on regulation and competition, and the idea the system could be so unregulated as to allow a single mega-corporation to crush all competition should worry all of us.

[Worldsmount3]

I can see that happening

[TMC]

Warner Bros. Discovery publicly announces the exploration of a sale after rejecting a second offer Paramount Skydance

“After receiving interest from multiple parties, we have initiated a comprehensive review of strategic alternatives to identify the best path forward to unlock the full value of our assets,” Warner Discovery Chief Executive David Zaslav said in a statement this morning. The company didn’t disclose what interest it had received. The Wall Street Journal reports this morning’s announcement comes after Warner Bros. Discovery rejected a second offer from David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance earlier this week. According to Bloomberg News, Netflix and Comcast are among the companies interested in Warner Bros.’ movie and TV studios. According to The New York Times, “executives at Warner Bros. Discovery expect the streaming business to be attractive to a variety of buyers, including tech companies like Netflix, Amazon and Apple. Some analysts think that one or more of those companies could also jump in to bid on all of Warner Bros. Discovery because of Paramount’s interest.”

[TMC]

Comcast hires bankers to explore Warner Bros. Discovery purchase

They are the second company, along with Paramount, to formally explore a bid.

[TMC]

Paramount Skydance accuses Warner Bros. Discovery of tipping its auction in Netflix’s favor

In a scorching letter sent to Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Executive David Zaslav late Wednesday, Paramount’s lawyers accused Zaslav’s company of not playing fair. “WBD appears to have abandoned the semblance and reality of a fair transaction process, thereby abdicating its duties to stockholders, and embarked on a myopic process with a predetermined outcome that favors a single bidder,” attorneys for Paramount wrote. Paramount is also alleges Warner Bros. Discovery that the sales process has been tainted by management conflicts. According to experts, Paramount’s letter may pave the way for a hostile takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery.

[TMC]

Warner Bros. Discovery to tell shareholders to reject Paramount’s latest offer

Warner Bros. Discovery’s decision “would leave Paramount and its chief executive, David Ellison, to decide whether to sweeten its offer,” according to The Wall Street Journal, adding that WBD plans to tell shareholders to support its existing deal with Netflix.

[TMC]

I give my thoughts on the current battle between Netflix and Paramount Skydance to buy Warner Bros, why I don't think either option is great and who will be victorious.

[TMC]

Paramount Skydance sweetens offer for Warner Bros. Discovery

According to Variety, Paramount said it will add an “incremental cash consideration” to WBD shareholders of 25 cents per share, equivalent to approximately $650 million cash value each quarter, for every quarter the proposed Paramount acquisition is not closed beyond Dec. 31, 2026. According to The Wrap, the “sweeter” bid isn’t what Warner Bros. Discovery investors are looking for.

[TMC]

Warner Bros. Discovery restarts talks with Paramount for one week

With Netflix’s approval, Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount will restart negotations. Paramount will have until Feb. 23 to negotiate its best and final offer, which Netflix will be able to match. “While we are confident that our transaction provides superior value and certainty, we recognize the ongoing distraction for WBD stockholders and the broader entertainment industry caused by PSKY’s antics,” Netflix said in a statement. “Accordingly, we granted WBD a narrow seven-day waiver of certain obligations under our merger agreement to allow them to engage with PSKY to fully and finally resolve this matter.” ALSO: John Oliver mocks Warner Bros Discovery uncertainty on Last Week Tonight season premiere.

[TMC]

Netflix backs out of Warner Bros. Discovery bidding, paving the way for Paramount’s David Ellison takeover

[James28]

I don't see any reason to be happy about this, because it will result in more layoffs than if Warner Bros. had merged with Netflix, and a large amount of proposed future projects being stopped from going forward like Blue Sky's upon that studio's shutdown. If I were obligated to support one or the other, I would have gone with the Netflix merger since a repeat of The Walt Disney Company's acquisition of 20th Century Fox would have been avoided then. But right now, a Paramount-Warner Bros. merger (or major-studio overconsolidation in general) will make your love for Hollywood crater. I just can't avoid being disappointed over the Paramount-WB merger becoming reality at this point. Oh well, looks like the only major American studios I will be supporting will be Universal and Sony Pictures going forward.

[stevea]

I think what Warner Archive is doing with Blu-Ray releases is good thing. They are successful doing it or it wouldn't be happening.

Since Paramount is the antithesis of that (as would Netflix have been) I see nothing good here either.