WBD Acquisition Thread

[awinger24]

A recent Deadline article says that regulatory agencies already approve of the merger while I have yet to hear anything yet as it is still under review.

 

[Moe]

go file a lawsuit, that's works with seaworld & sesame street

No, it would be frivolous and not sensible.

This thread is about WBD acquisition, not Blue Sky Studios.

 

[JulianRO]

regulatory agencies

From the US you mean. The EU ones didn't say anything, yet.

 

[Moe]

From the US you mean. The EU ones didn't say anything, yet.

The federal regulators in the US haven't finish with review and it take very long time for very larger merger.

It took 15 months for Disney-20th Century.

 

[themidnightlore]

And who knows if EU asks to divest things. If Fox had to drop Sky and Disney their side of Hearst A+E Networks, who tells you that Paramount and WBD are getting "married" with everything in their hands?

 

[JulianRO]

The federal regulators in the US haven't finish with review and it take very long time for very larger merger.

Indeed, that's why I said that it can't finish this fast.

Furthermore, looks like the EU didn't open yet a case reviewing the acquisition, the last one available is back when WarnerMedia merged with Discovery, and they notified the EU apparently, in November 2021:

Competition case search

Searches for published decisions can be carried out under policy area, case number, title and date.

competition-cases.ec.europa.eu

Competition case search

Searches for published decisions can be carried out under policy area, case number, title and date.

competition-cases.ec.europa.eu

So Ellison should stop with these stupid ambitions.

 

[lowell]

I just included an example to help the members to understand about outcome.

It is impossible to separate between Paramount-WBD and political stuffs because Ellison hardwired between two topics. I just keep at minimal as much as I can.

You have to blame on Ellison for those situation and as for Paramount-WBD merger, events like AI bubble pops, conflicts and geopolitical could directly or indirectly affect the merger, so impact wouldn't be felt until later.

It's so intertwined that even if people wanted to pretend it's not all connected, it's blatantly noticeable that the Ellisons have politicized both deals in some form or another.

The admin they dearly support will have some role in all sorts of stuff, including unexpected scenarios like a regional war or a potential AI stock bubble crash. And we'll very much see any impact coming from those events on the pursuit.

One other thing, while Saudis throw in $12B and Emirates & Qatar are each pitching $6B, it looks like Larry's looking for more partners to cover his $45.7B equity portion of the pursuit (he's probably either a very cheapskate person or his signed backstop guarantee on paper might not be what it's worth after all or both):

"The filing by Paramount Skydance with the Securities Exchange Commission did not outline how much the funds planned to contribute, but two people familiar with the investment said the total amount was around $24 billion.

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, will contribute about $12 billion, and sovereign wealth funds for Abu Dhabi and Qatar will each contribute about $6 billion, the people added.

Paramount beat out Netflix in February to secure a $110 billion deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. Larry Ellison, the father of Paramount’s chief executive, David Ellison, has said the Ellison family will back roughly $45.7 billion in equity required for the deal.

He has also said he would seek sponsors for that portion of the deal, though Paramount has not yet outlined who would be contributing, and at what amounts."

Gulf Backers Invest $24 Billion in Paramount’s Deal for Warner Bros.

Despite speculation that the Iran war could scuttle commitments from Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries, their investments have been secured.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Elijah Abrams]

Jeff Shell has officially been booted off the "Paramountain".

Jeff Shell Officially Out as Paramount’s President

Jeff Shell is officially parting ways with Paramount Skydance after the exec was targeted in a lawsuit that alleged Shell had shared confidential company info.

variety.com

 

[Daikun]

Jeff Shell has officially been booted off the "Paramountain".

Jeff Shell Officially Out as Paramount’s President

Jeff Shell is officially parting ways with Paramount Skydance after the exec was targeted in a lawsuit that alleged Shell had shared confidential company info.

variety.com

That was way sooner than I thought.

 

[JulianRO]

Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav’s $887 million ‘extraordinary’ golden parachute gets ripped by proxy advisory firm ISS | Fortune

ISS has recommended investors vote against Warner Bros. Discovery’s compensation proposal that would see executives collect $1.35 billion in payments as part of the merger with Paramount Skydance.

fortune.com

Looks like Zaslav's "gifts" after the acquisition will probably be gone.

 

[Nexonius]

Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav’s $887 million ‘extraordinary’ golden parachute gets ripped by proxy advisory firm ISS | Fortune

ISS has recommended investors vote against Warner Bros. Discovery’s compensation proposal that would see executives collect $1.35 billion in payments as part of the merger with Paramount Skydance.

fortune.com

Looks like Zaslav's "gifts" after the acquisition will probably be gone.

Oof. That golden parachute has holes.

 

[JulianRO]

Paramount seals debt commitments backing Warner Bros deal

Paramount Skydance has syndicated its bridge loan facility and secured permanent financing from a group of banks for its planned $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros ‌Discovery .

www.reuters.com

The long-term debt of PSKY after WBD's acquisition apparently reduced with $5 billion, from $54B to $49B.

 

[JulianRO]

Proxy adviser Glass Lewis recommends Warner Bros shareholders vote for Paramount deal

Independent proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis recommended Warner Bros Discovery shareholders to vote in favor of the company's $110 billion deal to combine with Paramount Skydance .

www.reuters.com

I highly doubt they'll reject it.

 

[awinger24]

Proxy adviser Glass Lewis recommends Warner Bros shareholders vote for Paramount deal

Independent proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis recommended Warner Bros Discovery shareholders to vote in favor of the company's $110 billion deal to combine with Paramount Skydance .

www.reuters.com

I highly doubt they'll reject it.

This is bad. PSKY-WBD will become official and it is over.

 

[zakawer2]

This is bad. PSKY-WBD will become official and it is over.

It's just an advisory opinion and will not necessarily affect the final outcome of the shareholder vote or even the odds of the deal actually getting approved by authorities.

This is not a done deal.

 

[JulianRO]

The only ones who can stop the acquisition would be the EU authorities, but in my opinion, it's unlikely to reject it because Paramount is "much smaller" than Netflix for them.

 

[Francisque]

The only ones who can stop the acquisition would be the EU authorities, but in my opinion, it's unlikely to reject it because Paramount is "much smaller" than Netflix for them.

I'm starting to lose any hope on EU these days, they're just very lenient

 

[JulianRO]

The EU is still stricter to mergers like this, usually.

Either way, I don't expect this merger to end up in July like how Ellison's stupid ambitions say, but more likely at the end of this year, or somewhere in 2027. With Netflix I would have expected an even longer closing date, but a lot depends on how fast the regulators move.

 

[zakawer2]

The only ones who can stop the acquisition would be the EU authorities, but in my opinion, it's unlikely to reject it because Paramount is "much smaller" than Netflix for them.

But the resulting company will own HBO Max, discovery+ (in some countries), Pluto TV (in some countries), Paramount+ (in some countries), 50% of SkyShowtime (in many countries), Cartoon Network, Cartoonito, Boomerang (in certain countries), a stake in Boing (in Spain and Italy), Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Nicktoons, Super! (in Italy), TLC, Discovery Channel, Investigation Discovery, Animal Planet, Eurosport, MTV, Comedy Central (in some countries), much of Food Network (in some countries), Paramount Network (in some countries), Warner TV (in some countries) and more. They would also simultaneously own Warner Bros. Pictures and Paramount Pictures. They'd have a lot more consolidation in these fields:

• Streaming (HBO Max, Paramount+, 50% of SkyShowtime, Pluto TV, discovery+)
• Kids' TV (Cartoon Network, Cartoonito, Boomerang, part of Boing, Nickelodeon, Nicktoons, Nick Jr. and Super!)
• IP ownership

 

[JulianRO]

and more.

Considering the recent closures from late 2025, don't expect the other channels to have much lifespan left. We already know CBS Sports and TNT Sports will merge in the USA.

HBO Max

Will be merged into Paramount+. I don't know what's going to happen with Discovery+, though.