Warner Bros. Discovery in talks to merge with Paramount

[harry580]

if Warner bros willing to merge with a studio, I rather have amazon mgm studios come in (they owned the post 1986 mgm library)

 

[lowell]

if Warner bros willing to merge with a studio, I rather have amazon mgm studios come in (they owned the post 1986 mgm library)

If a bidding war happens, the price going up will even make it harder for them to swallow against entrants who haven't made a major move in recent years or even have more capital at hand.

Zaslav is still heavily in debt and should focus on paying it down at this point. He and Malone can still flip WarnerDiscovery into a sale down the road.

At the rate he is paying down WarnerDiscovery's debt, maybe they could pursue bite-size targets like the 50% stake of All3Media that Liberty Global owns (WarnerDiscovery owns the other 50%) or even Nexstar's 31% stake in Food Network (could technically be exchanged with WarnerDiscovery's remaining 12.5% in the CW).

But they're not in the financial shape to go after bigger fish.

 

[Nexonius]

If they absolutely have to go through the merger talks (they don't and likely aren't), they need to remove redundant subsidiaries and subs that would flag down the merger in a hot second.


VH1, MTV, CMT, BET, and most of the Discovery networks should be put together in their own group. They only serve one purpose and that's reality if BET and VH1 doesn't get spun off themselves.

CBS and CNN will never be under the same roof, full stop. Yeah there's no national network under WBP, but CNN and CBS News certainly have conflicts. Don't even get me started on HBO and Showtime, one would absolutely need to shutter and we all know it won't be HBO.

TNT and Paramount Network need to throw all of their programming to the former, brand recognition.

Boomerang, Nicktoons, TeenNick, and Discovery Family? They all need to be merged into a new name, new channel or two. Maybe TeenNick and Discovery Family can go together. Nick Family?

TBS and Comedy Central should stay separate, maybe add The Daily Show and South Park to TBS and Adult Swim for reruns and cross platforming?

Warner Bros. Animation, Cartoon Network Studios and Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Animation Studio shouldn't ever merge their cultures and studios. It wouldn't make any sense.

Warner Bros. and Paramount should stay as separate brands, merge their home entertainment division and libraries together.


There, I humored this.

 

[Elijah Abrams]

It's very corroborative, due to all the other sites reporting it.

I will still say these are early talks, though, so nothing is concrete.

The people who will make the ultimate decision here will be the Redstones.

One of their goals out of an exit sale from Hollywood is to get the highest price possible for the company as they'll use the proceeds generated from the deal to create a nest egg for their next of kin.

They'll be glad if a bidding war does happen because they can try to maximize the valuation for the company overall.

Would the Redstones really approve a merger of Paramount and WBD, though?

 

[lowell]

Would the Redstones really approve a merger of Paramount and WBD, though?

They have to take into consideration and evaluate all possible offers that come to them.

But ultimately, it will come down to the price in the offers that are made for the company.

They'll go for the highest offer they can possibly get for it, especially if a bidding war does happen.

 

[AngusTinMan16]

Wel, this can't be good.

 

[harry580]

and....the Winner is.....monopoly

 

[lowell]

Wel, this can't be good.

Personally, I would've waited until Paramount+ broke even and started the path to long-term profitability before even starting this conversation.

But I'm guessing the Redstones are ready to cash in on a sale at this point and retire from Hollywood.

and....the Winner is.....monopoly

Oligopoly-ish.

 

[LinusFan303]

Since Axios and Sara Fischer were the first to report this, can we trust them both with this news? Fischer is a paid contributor to CNN, which Zaslav owns.

Yes, she's a great reporter. Axios is a great outlet too, shame more people don't know about them.

 

[Elijah Abrams]

But seriously, will WBD and Paramount end up merging next year? That will NEVER get past antitrust.

Apparently, they were spooked by other offers so they wanted to be the first to seriously jump in:

"Sources said Warner Bros. Discovery senior execs felt like they had to move sooner rather than later to engage in discussions with Paramount Global after the reports about Skydance’s interest in buying out Redstone’s NAI stake."

Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount Global in Merger Talks

Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global have held talks about a potential merger of the two media companies, Variety has confirmed.

variety.com

Zaslav and his cronies are being stupid here!

 

[lowell]

But seriously, will WBD and Paramount end up merging next year? That will NEVER get past antitrust.

This is still very early.

Basically, the Redstones are treading the waters to see how many suitors are there.

Even CNBC (who's owned by Comcast) also puts out that today's drawn fire may drag in Comcast itself:

Warner Bros. Discovery merger talks with Paramount Global may draw out NBCUniversal

Warner Bros. Discovery's merger talks with Paramount Global may bring NBCUniversal to the table.

www.cnbc.com

We already do know both WarnerDiscovery has $45.3 billion in debt and Comcast has a large debt load of $94.351 billion.

If a bidding war ensues, the price going up will make it harder for them to swallow against other entrants who haven't made a major move in recent years or even have more capital at hand.

Outside of regulatory concerns, they each don't have enough purchasing power to go after bigger fish in their current financial shapes.

I do think one of these suitors will be someone who's been lacking IPs at their fold for a while now and they won't let the opportunity be seized away from them.

 

[Daikun]

I'd prefer it if Paramount bought Discovery and ONLY Discovery. Let WB be its own company again; save us the nightmare of both Nick and CN being under the same corporate umbrella.

 

[Elijah Abrams]

This is still very early.

Basically, the Redstones are treading the waters to see how many suitors are there.

Even CNBC (who's owned by Comcast) also puts out that today's drawn fire may drag in Comcast itself:

Warner Bros. Discovery merger talks with Paramount Global may draw out NBCUniversal

Warner Bros. Discovery's merger talks with Paramount Global may bring NBCUniversal to the table.

www.cnbc.com

We already do know both WarnerDiscovery has $45.3 billion in debt and Comcast has a large debt load of $94.351 billion.

If a bidding war ensues, the price going up will make it harder for them to swallow against other entrants who haven't made a major move in recent years or even have more capital at hand.

Outside of regulatory concerns, they each don't have enough purchasing power to go after bigger fish in their current financial shapes.

I do think one of these suitors will be someone who's been lacking IPs at their fold for a while now and they won't let the opportunity be seized away from them.

I just don’t want Zaslav to get his way in the end and merge WBD and Paramount, because we all hate him.

 

[lowell]

I just don’t want Zaslav to get his way in the end and merge WBD and Paramount, because we all hate him.

I think the Discovery shareholders who endorsed him alongside Malone will demand a meeting with him anyway.

They will ask why paying down the current debt is actually not a priority to him and when you're still trying to climb your way out of debt, it's not a good move to jump back up into a larger amount of debt to pay down.

Some investors will also ask again why is a combination deal 2.0. happening when there's still so much debt yet to be paid off. They will probably wonder if the reshaping and flipping off for sale strategy is going to happen down the road or not because that's why they gave him their endorsement in the first place and they will eventually want to cash in on their investment towards a company sale.

I'm still baffled Zaslav actually let the LOTR/Hobbit rights go to Embracer last year and then tries to attempt this, though.

And I can't even see him pursuing something like Legendary until that debt substantially goes down.

 

[themidnightlore]

Here we go again... Someone didn't learn from the Disney-Fox merger.
Can someone buy Game One and J-One from ParGlo's hands, thank you? (Half joking, but I'd be salty if they close.)

 

[lowell]

Here we go again... Someone didn't learn from the Disney-Fox merger.
Can someone buy Game One and J-One from ParGlo's hands, thank you? (Half joking, but I'd be salty if they close.)

I'm guessing the way the tech companies are heavily investing so much money into streaming, it's actually spooking these family owners enough to leave Hollywood for good.

First, it was the Murdochs, now it's the Redstones. I do wonder if the Roberts family will consider this down the road or they'll still be coasting around with Comcast.

 

[Francisque]

Here we go again... Someone didn't learn from the Disney-Fox merger.
Can someone buy Game One and J-One from ParGlo's hands, thank you? (Half joking, but I'd be salty if they close.)

In reality, except for some bits, notably their streaming only strategy in many countries and the mess we've seen in UK, Germany and Italy on ex-Fox channels, once a staple in our countries due to Fox and Sky splitting up due to Sky becoming a Comcast product, that merger has gone rather well, probably because Disney had the money, a long standing children's programming tradition but less of an expertise on scripted mature content, now has both and it has managed it rather well.

WBD, on the other hand...

 

[themidnightlore]

In reality, except for some bits, notably their streaming only strategy in many countries and the mess we've seen in UK, Germany and Italy on ex-Fox channels, once a staple in our countries due to Fox and Sky splitting up due to Sky becoming a Comcast product, that merger has gone rather well, probably because Disney had the money, a long standing children's programming tradition but less of an expertise on scripted mature content, now has both and it has managed it rather well.

WBD, on the other hand...

Point taken. It did have some rocky points, but the Disney-Fox merger went better than expected. TBH, if this merger happens, I can only think that this entity would end with too many FTA kids channel in Italy. K2, Frisbee, Super! and half of Cartoonito and Boing. Pretty cursed.

 

[Francisque]

I don't think such a concentration of power would be permitted, especially in Europe but it'd be even too much in the US

 

[lowell]

Point taken. It did have some rocky points, but the Disney-Fox merger went better than expected. TBH, if this merger happens, I can only think that this entity would end with too many FTA kids channel in Italy. K2, Frisbee, Super! and half of Cartoonito and Boing. Pretty cursed.

Overall, it's going to be down to the Redstones and they'll go with the highest price possible for the company as they'll use the proceeds generated from the deal to create a nest egg for their next of kin.

If a bidding war happens, they're going to try to maximize the valuation for it overall.

And when WarnerDiscovery and Comcast have such high debt loads, it's hard to see them having enough purchasing power to go after bigger fish in their current financial shapes.