Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global are reportedly in a early conversations about a merger. Conversations about a merger between the two media companies were first ignited when Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav met with Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish for a lunch meeting earlier this Tuesday.
Axios reported that Zaslav was also in talks with Shari Redstone of National Amusements Inc., which owns a controlling stake of Paramount Global. The specific terms of the potential merger has not been learned but both companies have enlisted bankers. The conversation is still preliminary but if the merger is successful, WBD and Paramount would be able to pool their assets which span TV, film, sports and streaming to gain a greater scale and operational efficiencies.
WBD and Paramount would be able to combine Max and Paramount+ premium streaming services and co,pete with the likes of Netflix, Disney+ and Hulu. WBD has many film franchises including Terminator, A Quiet Place, Transformers, Mission: Impossible and even the DCEU. In 2022, WBD was formed by Discovery Inc.’s acquisition of WarnerMedia from AT&T. Paramount Global was a result of the merger between CBS and Viacom in 2019. Sources said WBD senior execs wanted to engage in talks with Paramount Global sooner or later following reports of Skydance’s interesting in buying out Redstone’s stake in NAI.
