by: Alana Brown-Davis
It has been reported that Paramount Skydance is heavily looking into an acquisition of Warner Bros. Paramount recently closed its $8 billion merger with Skydance bringing in David Ellison as its new CEO. The union was prolonged as the Federal Communications Commission investigated alleged news distortion at CBS, Paramount’s sister company. The merger was approved soon after Paramount agreed to settle with President Donald Trump for $16 million lawsuit he filed over the editing of a “60 Minutes” interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Ellison announced a seven year $7.7 billion deal, making Paramount the exclusive U.S. home for TKO Group’s UFC mixed martial arts organization. In addition to this, Ellison has acquired the rights to create a live-action feature film based on the Call of Duty video game franchise. Accompanying this is the entrance of the Duffer Brothers into the company who signed an exclusive four-year agreement for projects.
Paramount and Warner Bros.
One wouldn’t be wrong to assume that Paramount is vying to become a juggernaut in the world of entertainment. If the acquisition of Warner Bros. is successful, joining it will be a slate of major franchises. These include DC superheroes and Harry Potter as well as sports rights with Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League. The financial contributions that this merger would have are promising.
Warner Bros. has faced insurmountable debt over the years. This has been a result of Warner Bros joining Discovery in 2022 putting them in a $38 billion hole. Its linear television model doesn’t bode well in the streaming heavy climate of today. With this merger with Paramount, their combined catalogs would have a total of more than 200 million subscribers.
In an interview with CNBC, Bank of America analyst Jessica Ehrlich discussed the potential of these deals for Paramount. “They are clearly in a very necessary rebuilding mode, but this will take time and a significant amount of investment,” said Ehrlich. “Paramount was starved, literally starved, for so long under the previous several management teams. So, there’s going to be probably a prolonged period of deep investment in content.”
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