WBD Acquisition Thread

[awinger24]

Oracle tanking in stocks and the AI bubble bursting could really collapse the deal. If WB gets $7 billion back, that will really offset their debt.

Long term, the deal should be terminated as long as the merger gets delayed in court. The ticking fee could also put Skydance in ruins.

I could see Sony or Apollo buying Paramount.

 

[harry580]

Oracle tanking in stocks and the AI bubble bursting could really collapse the deal. If WB gets $7 billion back, that will really offset their debt.

Long term, the deal should be terminated as long as the merger gets delayed in court. The ticking fee could also put Skydance in ruins.

I could see Sony or Apollo buying Paramount.

or I can see the 2005-2011 mgm thing where sony & Apollo own paramount but didnt put paramount under sony pictures and when sony sold their stake in paramount (sony can keep cbs, nickelodeon, mtv & others while Apollo kept paramount)

 

[Nexonius]

On the chance this merger is done, I have a few obvious or reasonable predictions after the deal is set:

Warner Bros. Paramount being the new name.

Thousands of jobs gone (notably WBD executives are outed outside maybe a select few).

HBO Max, Discovery+, and Paramount+ merging. HBO is a household name, probably HBO+ or HBOMore.

Networks shutting down or merging, like OWN and Discovery Family. With BET and Nicktoons/Boomerang, why keep similar networks? BET is a household name. Paramount Network turns into the WB Network or the Warner Network.

Adult Swim splitting from Cartoon Network and onto another network, say, TruTV. South Park airs on the block/network as well. Cartoon Network qnd Nickelodeon merging.

Film studios merging. Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures are the main labels, with New Line Cinema/Miramax and DC Studios are secondary for lower budgeted/independent movies and superhero movies. Paramount Players, Republic Pictures, and Miramax is obsolete. Warner Bros. Pictures Animation absorbs Paramount Animation and Skydance Animation plus their Madrid unit.

Warner Archive now includes Paramount material to be restored.

Nickelodeon Animation, Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe, and Cartoon Network Studios are now under Warner Bros. Animation.

Williams Street remains untouched but is under WBA and Warner Bros. Television.

TCM remains untouched but can air Paramount animated shorts as well.

CBS Studios is now simply Paramount Television again that's the TV arm of CBS. Warner Bros. Televison will continue making shows for every network and streaming service. The reality and talk/game shows are now under Telepictures/Warner Horizon Television. That goes for all the networks who make reality shows. CBS Media Ventures is now Warner Bros. Paramount Television Distribution. Global Distribution is also under said name.

Warner Bros. Games absorbs Skydance Interactive and New Media.

For HBO and Showtime, their Cinemax and Movie Channels are gone. They use those brands for the FAST service (older movies).

 

[harry580]

wonder who will be the fifth mpaa studio now?, amazon/mgm?, netflix?

 

[TVArchive]

Do CN and AS work 24/7 now?

 

[JulianRO]

No, only on YouTube TV, it's not everywhere.

 

[TVArchive]

I understand, but do CN and AS have a 24/7 schedule there, or is it a black screen during off-air hours?

 

[RandomMe]

I understand, but do CN and AS have a 24/7 schedule there, or is it a black screen during off-air hours?

They just deactivate the streams during downtime.

CN runs from 6am to 5pm Eastern, AS from 5pm to 6am.

13/11 split.

Networks shutting down or merging, like OWN and Discovery Family. With BET and Nicktoons/Boomerang, why keep similar networks? BET is a household name. Paramount Network turns into the WB Network or the Warner Network.

Some networks such as the 4:3 ones would shut down.

 

[Elijah Abrams]

He knows this deal is going to crash and/or that the stock price will never be this high again he's smartly selling high before it goes down. The stock price started leaping when Ellison started his quest to buy it , then he decided to do the open bidding process instead of saying no go away, and the stock value went up some more. It peaked at near $30 but hasn't been below $26 since.

Does he know the deal will crash before it closes?

I'm going to write my opinion about compare between Paramount-WBD and Disney-20th Century.

If antitrust law is enforced strictly, Paramount-WBD merger would be bluntly rejected by regulators since Disney-20th Century may get approved with some conditions like require Blue Sky Studios to be sold. Why? Disney is very weak with adult films, even Marvel and Lucasfilm aren't big enough. 20th Century enabled Disney to boost up with adult contents.

Paramount-WBD = debt spiral, heavy debt, higher interest rate, less new contents and more liabilities. Also, AOL and AT&T failed WB, so Ellison could end up fail WB again. The split wouldn't be nice nor smooth. There are many people dislike Ellison due to horrible histories with his dad. The cut would be extremely painful for both of Paramount and WBD. The clash would be super nasty and it can devalue the iconic brands.

Disney-20th Century = surprise issues due to pandemic, more debt but not extreme scale as Paramount-WBD, rocky start for Disney+ and closure of Blue Sky Studios. It got much better after pandemic ended and they recovered a lot that would be unlikely for Paramount-WBD. The clash is mild/moderate, especially with Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm.

Paramount-WBD is not most worrying for me, but my most worrying is about Ellison because of his dad and I just see Ellisons as evil. Zaslav is no better and neither is Bob Iger, so Ellison and Zaslav are worse than Bob Iger. Bob Iger will be gone soon and y'all have to worry about Ellisons.

Paramount-WBD may have new lessons for Disney to learn about which strategies work or not, also Disney could hire those people who got fired from Paramount or WB.

WB is too cursed, so curse could destroy the Ellisons' fortune and they would left with much less money like happened to Ted Turner, however unlike Ellisons, it wasn't Ted Turner's fault for lost the wealth, so it was on AOL.

I'm praying for Paramount-WBD to be BLOCKED PERMANENTLY, but it is unpredictable.

I definitely agree with you on your comparison. I still want Disney to sell 20th, but I agree on the acquisition having less overlap. Paramount/WBD is the complete opposite of that. Bob Iger needed something to boost Disney+ and fill the void Touchstone left. David Ellison, on the other hand, only wants power, and to please you-know-who.

 

[TVArchive]

They just deactivate the streams during downtime.

CN runs from 6am to 5pm Eastern, AS from 5pm to 6am.

13/11 split.

Some networks such as the 4:3 ones would shut down.

Got it, I thought that because of the separation, CN and AS in the US would become 24/7.

 

[RandomMe]

Got it, I thought that because of the separation, CN and AS in the US would become 24/7.

Yeah, technically they're employing what MEO (and earlier TV Cabo) in Portugal did with CN/TCM.

 

[Insidus]

On the chance this merger is done, I have a few obvious or reasonable predictions after the deal is set:

Warner Bros. Paramount being the new name.

Thousands of jobs gone (notably WBD executives are outed outside maybe a select few).

HBO Max, Discovery+, and Paramount+ merging. HBO is a household name, probably HBO+ or HBOMore.

Networks shutting down or merging, like OWN and Discovery Family. With BET and Nicktoons/Boomerang, why keep similar networks? BET is a household name. Paramount Network turns into the WB Network or the Warner Network.

Adult Swim splitting from Cartoon Network and onto another network, say, TruTV. South Park airs on the block/network as well. Cartoon Network qnd Nickelodeon merging.

Film studios merging. Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures are the main labels, with New Line Cinema/Miramax and DC Studios are secondary for lower budgeted/independent movies and superhero movies. Paramount Players, Republic Pictures, and Miramax is obsolete. Warner Bros. Pictures Animation absorbs Paramount Animation and Skydance Animation plus their Madrid unit.

Warner Archive now includes Paramount material to be restored.

Nickelodeon Animation, Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe, and Cartoon Network Studios are now under Warner Bros. Animation.

Williams Street remains untouched but is under WBA and Warner Bros. Television.

TCM remains untouched but can air Paramount animated shorts as well.

CBS Studios is now simply Paramount Television again that's the TV arm of CBS. Warner Bros. Televison will continue making shows for every network and streaming service. The reality and talk/game shows are now under Telepictures/Warner Horizon Television. That goes for all the networks who make reality shows. CBS Media Ventures is now Warner Bros. Paramount Television Distribution. Global Distribution is also under said name.

Warner Bros. Games absorbs Skydance Interactive and New Media.

For HBO and Showtime, their Cinemax and Movie Channels are gone. They use those brands for the FAST service (older movies).

I get the animation studios part as for the networks I believe Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon will be retained compared to Nicktoons and Boomerang they make a lot of revenue.

 

[zakawer2]

Do CN and AS work 24/7 now?

No. Seems like this is just a move on YouTube TV's end only. Cartoon Network USA and Adult Swim USA still behave like two closely connected timing-based phases of the same channel internally.

 

[Moe]

No. Seems like this is just a move on YouTube TV's end only. Cartoon Network USA and Adult Swim USA still behave like two closely connected timing-based phases of the same channel internally.

No, you forgot about Hulu Live TV and DirecTV Stream have separate feed for Cartoon Network alone and Adult Swim alone, so separate was first on Hulu Live TV many years ago.

 

[RandomMe]

No. Seems like this is just a move on YouTube TV's end only. Cartoon Network USA and Adult Swim USA still behave like two closely connected timing-based phases of the same channel internally.

The streams on their respective sites years ago had a lock screen during downtime

 

[PF9]

This merger would also make Paramount's arrangement to distribute Rush Hour 4 moot since they and WB would now be co-owned.

 

[lowell]

or I can see the 2005-2011 mgm thing where sony & Apollo own paramount but didnt put paramount under sony pictures and when sony sold their stake in paramount (sony can keep cbs, nickelodeon, mtv & others while Apollo kept paramount)

Considering Apollo's a financing partner for Skydance's WarnerDiscovery deal, I'm good with no further involvement from them.

If Sony's continuing to save up their money, they likely won't need anyone else if they do pick up Paramount Global from Larry Ellison's hands down the road, other than a bank to help with the deal.

If anyone doesn't know it yet, Skydance's greenlight of ‘Rush Hour 4’ was another act of the Ellisons paying tribute, a la ‘The Late Show’'s cancellation, to grease up the wheels.

 

[JulianRO]

Leaving off-topic behind.... more shares of WBD have been sold:

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1437107/000195917326001930/xsl144X01/primary_doc.xml

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1437107/000195917326001916/xsl144X01/primary_doc.xml

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1437107/000160550326000006/xsl144X01/primary_doc.xml

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1437107/000195917326001928/xsl144X01/primary_doc.xml

The most shares were sold by Campbell Bruce, over $45 million.

 

[Moe]

Considering Apollo's a financing partner for Skydance's WarnerDiscovery deal, I'm good with no further involvement from them.

If Sony's continuing to save up their money, they likely won't need anyone else if they do pick up Paramount Global from Larry Ellison's hands down the road, other than a bank to help with the deal.

If anyone doesn't know it yet, Skydance's greenlight of ‘Rush Hour 4’ was another act of the Ellisons paying tribute, a la ‘The Late Show’'s cancellation, to grease up the wheels.

My feel if it get sold to Sony/Apollo as investor group, so Sony would likely to be caretaking of Paramount and WBD for while to get everything under control, so both would be sold to new owners like Bob Bakish could try to get Paramount back and WB could be sold to Amazon.

Not sure about HBO Max-Paramount+ combined under Ellison become a separate again, or it could end up under WB asset, or under multiple owners.

If separate studios are ideal, so it could influence on Disney about whether separate 20th Century would be feasible since corporate raider like Ellisons wouldn't be around anymore to make a threat to studios.

 

[lowell]

My feel if it get sold to Sony/Apollo as investor group, so Sony would likely to be caretaking of Paramount and WBD for while to get everything under control, so both would be sold to new owners like Bob Bakish could try to get Paramount back and WB could be sold to Amazon.

Not sure about HBO Max-Paramount+ combined under Ellison become a separate again, or it could end up under WB asset, or under multiple owners.

If separate studios are ideal, so it could influence on Disney about whether separate 20th Century would be feasible since corporate raider like Ellisons wouldn't be around anymore to make a threat to studios.

I think even before anything actually happens, it'll really depend on how Oracle ends up.

If it's in financial trouble after the AI bubble does pop, Larry will make rescuing Oracle a priority over David.

That means, Skydance's WarnerDiscovery financing could be jeopardized since Larry's own Oracle stock is being ridden as loan collateral.

If the WarnerDiscovery deal collapses, Larry could easily recoup his invested money back by selling Paramount Global to Sony and put his sale proceeds back into Oracle.

I wouldn't actually mind Sony hiring Bob Bakish as a consultant like WarnerDiscovery previously did with Alan Horn but in helping them with the integration of Paramount Global's operations and advising them how to carefully run a combined Crunchyroll/Paramount+ platform well.

Disney buying Fox made sense because they actually filled in the gaps they had and got caught up on building up streaming. They had people who knew what they were doing and were able to afford the purchase.

Even Amazon buying WarnerDiscovery would also help them cover whatever they currently lack and they actually have the money to afford it.

But David Ellison and his Skydance lieutenants actually lack the experience of running a major company before buying Paramount Global. All their restructuring decisions were betting on Larry's financial involvement and ridden on a deal that wasn't ever guaranteed.

The financial details of the Ellisons' WarnerDiscovery pursuit isn't exactly on solid ground here.

Without being a Silicon Valley trust fund kid, David wouldn't have gotten anywhere and the vanity startup project Skydance wouldn't have existed at all.