Mega-Media Corp: WB Discovery and Paramount May Merge, Leaving Us Fewer (But Larger) Entertainment Conglomerates
The number of streaming services you need may soon go down by one.
While no papers have been signed and no announcements are forthcoming, there was a meeting between the CEOs of both Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global on Tuesday that could foreshadow yet another media merger.
David Zaslov, the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery and Bob Bakish, who holds the same position at Paramount Global, took a meeting at Paramount’s global HQ in New York City that multiple sources said involved a discussion of merging the two entertainment giants.
Axios, which broke the story, reports that Zaslav has also spoken with Shari Redstone, the owner of Paramount’s parent company National Amusements Inc. about a potential deal, and Warner Bros. is said to have hired bankers to explore the financials. It’s unknown if WBD will offer to buy just Paramount or if it will attempt to buy National Amusements as well.
The deal would help Paramount, which is currently valued at $10 billion to Warner’s $29B value, as it would help Paramount with its debts. Both companies notched a downtick in their stock values after news of the potential merger got out.
The talks come less than two years after Warner Bros’ merger with Discovery, and if the Paramount merger is in the works, it will have to wait until the two year anniversary of that Discovery merger deal, in April of next year, due to a tax statute that prevents Zaslov from completing any other mergers or acquisitions.
Neither Paramount nor WBD is commenting on the talks, and Tuesday’s meeting marked only the opening round of any negotiations.
Byron Allen, whose bid for the BET Media Group, a division of Paramount Global, resubmitted his bid of $3.5 billion for the BET and VH1 linear networks as well as BET+ and BET+ studios. Paramount had reportedly begun talks to sell off the division. Allen’s earlier bid was turned down for not being high enough, as was Tyler Perry’s offer.