Every signal in this story, with the reporting each one was drafted from.
Puck’s Kim Masters reports that with California Attorney General Rob Bonta having settled, Paramount Skydance’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery is now hitting Hollywood, with insiders describing a grim mood inside Warners over expected job cuts.
Sep 29TheWrap’s Jeremy Fuster reports that Paramount Skydance filed a $44 billion debt offering with the SEC, split between $32 billion in investment-grade debt and $12.4 billion in high-yield bonds, to help fund its $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Sep 29Deadline’s Melanie Goodfellow reports that ex-Disney exec Kevin Mayer, speaking at the Zurich Summit, called Paramount-Warner Bros consolidation inevitable amid declining revenues, predicted Warner Bros stays separate, and warned that $6 billion in promised synergies means heavy layoffs.
Sep 29Simon Owens reports that Business Insider found Paramount streaming leadership telling employees this summer that Paramount+ will add a free tier, micro dramas, interactive ad formats, and a TikTok-style feed with comments and AI clipping.
Sep 27MediaPost’s Wayne Friedman reports that Morgan Stanley pegs subscriber overlap between HBO Max and Paramount+ at 28%, complicating plans to merge the platforms as the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery deal proceeds.
Sep 27TVREV’s Alan Wolk reports that California AG Rob Bonta backed off his antitrust challenge to the Paramount-Warner merger after unions, theater chains and state political figures sided with the deal over fears of losing 30,000 jobs to another state.
Sep 25The Hollywood Reporter reports Paramount executives are exploring an Elon Musk investment as part of a syndicate backing the Warner Bros deal, per a Semafor report citing unnamed sources describing preliminary talks with no confirmed investment size.
Sep 25The Ankler reports that Mike Schur, on the Ankler Agenda podcast with Elaine Low, warns Paramount’s Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition is “gasoline on a fire,” questioning who enforces the antitrust consent decree’s concessions to state AGs.
Sep 25TheWrap’s Lucas Manfredi reports Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin held off approving Paramount Skydance’s settlement with 12 state attorneys general over the $110 billion Warner Bros. Discovery merger.
Sep 25Deadline’s Dade Hayes reports that at the FT Business of Entertainment Summit, Simpson Thacher partner David Hernand called the $110 billion Paramount-WBD deal evidence that “tech has won,” with distribution now dominated by tech giants.
Sep 25The Ankler’s Sean McNulty reports that Paramount Skydance has discussed approaching Elon Musk as part of a syndicate of new equity investors, citing Semafor, as Larry Ellison looks to offload PSKY equity beyond sovereign wealth funds and RedBird’s $250 million stake.
Sep 25Media War & Peace’s Evan Shapiro reports that the Paramount-Warner settlement includes a trustee monitor reporting to the court, not management, with power to trigger liquidation if terms are violated.
Sep 25TheWrap’s Sharon Waxman reports that California AG Rob Bonta settled his lawsuit against Paramount Skydance’s $110 billion Warner Bros. Discovery deal without securing structural changes, after Paramount threatened to relocate and state leaders pushed for a deal.
Sep 25The Hollywood Reporter reports that California folded on its bid to stop Paramount’s $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, settling instead for a five-year consent decree rather than pursuing divestitures at trial.
Sep 23The Ankler’s Lesley Goldberg reports that David Ellison and 12 state attorneys general reached an antitrust settlement with no structural remedies, and WBD CEO David Zaslav told staff the deal will close no later than early October.
Sep 23Variety’s Todd Spangler reports that Morgan Stanley analysts call the combined HBO Max and Paramount+ a “streaming powerhouse” that could hit over 240 million subscribers by 2030, even as the merged company carries $77.2 billion in net debt at close.
Sep 23Deadline’s Ted Johnson reports that associate attorney general Stanley Woodward minimized the concessions state AGs won in their settlement blocking the Paramount-Warner Bros Discovery merger, saying the only antitrust provisions require Paramount honor commitments it had already made.
Sep 23The Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger settlement with 12 states requires the combined company to keep operating a free, ad-supported streamer under the Pluto TV brand, at current service and quality levels, for the full five-year term.
Sep 22The Ankler’s Sean McNulty reports that twelve state attorneys general have settled their antitrust suit against Paramount Skydance’s $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. No cable networks are to be sold, which he calls arguably the toughest issue for Paramount.
Sep 22Paramount reached a settlement with 12 state attorneys general just before an Oct. 1 deadline that would have triggered a $7 million daily “ticking fee.”
Sep 22Paramount settled with California AG Rob Bonta, state attorneys general and the WGA to clear its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, and The Ankler streamed a live discussion on what David Ellison gave up.
Sep 22The Ankler reports growing chatter that David Ellison could relocate Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio operations out of Los Angeles, but sources inside both companies say they aren’t taking the threat at face value.
Sep 19Reuters’s Jody Godoy reports that Paramount and states seeking to block its $110 billion Warner Bros. deal could settle as soon as this weekend. Terms under discussion include independent content monitoring of CNN and a commitment on the number of theatrical releases per year.
Sep 19Media War & Peace’s Evan Shapiro reports that a Media War & Peace breakdown pegs the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery deal at $111 billion, beating Netflix’s $84 billion bid. If Oracle’s debt gets downgraded to junk, Larry Ellison’s assets freeze, jeopardizing his $40 billion cash backstop.
Sep 11Deadline’s Ted Johnson reports that as state attorneys general sue to block Paramount’s $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, lawyers and analysts point to the 2018 AT&T-Time Warner trial, where a judge rejected the government’s antitrust case and the merger closed.
Sep 3