Paramount Skydance is preparing a majority cash bid to acquire all of Warner Bros. Discovery — including its cable networks and movie studio — that would be backed by the Ellison family, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The proposed offer has not yet been formally submitted, and the plans could still collapse, the report added.
The news, which comes just weeks after Skydance’s $8.4 billion merger with Paramount Global, sent Warner Bros. Discovery shares surging as much as 33% on Thursday.
Zaheer Kachwala and Dawn Chmielewski for Reuters:
David Ellison is the son of billionaire Larry Ellison, whose 40% stake in cloud giant Oracle has propelled him to No. 2 on the global billionaires list. A long-time ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, Larry Ellison is likely to leverage his formidable wealth as well as political heft in Washington to close such a deal.
The Ellison family has been instrumental in financing Skydance’s expansion. Analysts have noted that any acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery would likely require significant private financing, given the size of the deal and the limitations of Paramount Skydance’s balance sheet.
Warner Bros Discovery had a market capitalization of about $30 billion before news of the potential offer broke. Ellison, 81, saw his fortune rise earlier this week by close to $100 billion and on Thursday was worth more than $360 billion, according to Forbes.
If successful, such a deal would likely face antitrust scrutiny, as it would bring together Warner Bros – a media giant in its own right with assets like HBO Max, “Barbie,” and the Harry Potter franchise as well as cable networks like CNN – and Skydance Paramount’s film studio, CBS News, and streaming service Paramount+.
The potential bid underscores intensifying competition in the media sector, as traditional players race to gain scale and strengthen their streaming services as TV viewership declines. They also face heightened competition from technology giants Apple and Amazon, which have launched competing streaming services, and are using their deep financial resources to attract top talent and acquire sports rights.
MacDailyNews Take: Consolidation.
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