Warner Bros Discovery stocks surged 33% on Thursday in a Wall Street Journal report that Paramount Skydance is preparing its WBD-wide purchase bids.
According to a journal report, the Paramount Skydance bid is a bid for Warner Bros Discovery, which is currently in existence despite WBD being split into two separate companies next year (Warner Bros., Studios and Streaming, and Discovery Global), which includes Discovery Global. The article stated that Paramount Skydance’s bid will be “majority cash” but no prices are specified.
Paramount Skydance’s offer to WBD, which cited an anonymous source, is “supported by the Ellison family.” This is a reference to Oracle founder Larry Ellison, one of the world’s wealthiest individuals with a current net worth of $370 billion. He is the father of David Ellison, chairman and CEO of the new Paramount Skydance. The Ellison Family has given nearly $2 billion in donations from private equity firm Redbird Capital Partners, and SkyDance Media has put in about $6 billion in money to buy Paramount Global.
Representatives from Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery did not immediately respond to a variety request for comment.
In the market closure on Thursday, WBD shares rose 29% to $16.17 per share. The market capitalization was $40 billion, with a daily stock price of about $9 billion. Shares of Paramount Skydance, trading under the symbol “PSKY”, reached 15.6%.
The cost of purchasing Warner Bros Discovery also needs to take into account its significant debt burden. As of June 30th, WBD’s total debt was $35.6 billion even after its recent debt retirement.
The main reason for raising Paramount Skydance’s interest in purchasing Warner Bros. Discovery is to pool streaming operations to achieve a bigger global scale and compete with bigger rivals, Netflix and Disney+/Hulu.
As of June 30, 2025, Paramount+ tallies 77.7 million subscribers, primarily reflecting the “expiration of international hard bundle transactions,” and stated that when posting the second quarter’s 2025 results (last under previous ownership). WBD’s consumer streaming division, which is primarily composed of HBO MAX, had 125.7 million subscribers as of the end of June (3.4 million won per quarter).
David Ellison outlined a high-tech forward strategy to boost Paramount’s streaming business. This includes plans to integrate Paramount+ and free ad-supported streamer Pluto TV into a common technology stack. Paramount Skydance presidents Ellison and Jeff Shell also discuss their desire to partner with other streamers.
Ellison said in terms of streaming, “We are opening our business to explore everything.”
Paramount Skydance and WBD combos can also provide cost synergies and economies of scale for businesses and television network businesses. Paramount’s TV Stable includes CBS, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, MTV and BET, while WBD includes CNN, TNT, TBS, Discovery, Food Network and HGTV. In particular, the merger that brings together CBS News and CNN will provide a clear synergistic effect.
The Ellison Family owns 100% voting control for Paramount Skydance. Skydance closed its acquisition of Paramount Global five weeks ago, with FCC approval five weeks ago. Ellison has set up a new management team that includes Shell, former Netflix executive Cindy Holland as head of the consumer streaming business, and a new management team that includes Andy Gordon, the COO and Chief Strategy Officer who previously led Redbird’s West Coast office.
David Ellison said the company (known as “Paramount, Skydance Corporation”) expects to cut costs from the company by more than $2 billion. That includes a massive layoff, and is expected to eliminate as many as 3,000 jobs by early November, Variety reports.
Before Skydance concluded a deal with Paramount Global, which included in July 2024, its acquisition of previous control of WBD (David Zaslav) and Paramount (then CEO Bob Bakish), Shari Redstone, the CEO of Paramount (then CEO Bob Bakish), they discussed the possibility of a merger in late 2023.
Emphasis on Paramount Skydance’s potential bid for Warner Bros Discovery was Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D. Massachusetts).
Warren pushed Skydance and Paramount over details on whether executives were engaged in “corrupted side-trade or political benefits” with the Trump administration to approve the merger. In addition to calling Trump a $16 million payment for Paramount Global to settle his lawsuit (CBS News’ “60 Minutes” alleges that he miscompiled an interview with Kamala Harris at the time), Warren cited Trump’s claim that the new Paramount owner had pledged a $20 million free ad. “Remember when Trump announced a multi-million-dollar secret deal with CEO David Ellison. And shocking – Trump has approved Ellison to buy CBS/Paramount,” the senator wrote. “Now, Ellison wants to take over CNN/Warner Bros.”
At a press conference on August 7, David Ellison did not confirm or deny such a “side deal” when he asked about Trump’s allegations. “I’m not going to politicize anything today,” Ellison replied. “We want to have fun first.”
