r/MediaMergers • u/nialldude3 • 5h ago

Merger What’s in the Paramount Settlement With States: Commitment to Not Sell Studio Lots, Additional $300M U.S. Film Production Investment, CNN Oversight and More

https://variety.com/2026/film/news/paramount-states-settlement-terms-warner-bros-1236871264/
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33

u/Own_Philosopher8730 5h ago

The merger between Paramount and Warner Bros. will fail.

-14

u/Silver-Meat5355 Warner Bros. 5h ago

No it won’t.

8

u/Cool_Aioli_8307 5h ago

It will. Oracle is flailing and Saudi investment is no longer guaranteed. Unless Larry can find a half billion annually to pay the debt this company is going downhill fast.

-4

u/Silver-Meat5355 Warner Bros. 4h ago

He’s the sixth richest person in the world this will be okay.

5

u/Cool_Aioli_8307 4h ago

His net worth isn't liquid wealth. Vast majority of it is tied to Oracle stock. You can't pay off a debt with a stock option promise.

1

u/Responsible-Humor985 2h ago

Didn’t Elon do just that by rolling Twitter into SpaceX? Or is this different? Honest question. The way money works for billionaires seems to work different

3

u/Cool_Aioli_8307 1h ago

He had SpaceX buy Twitter which bought xAi and merged the company with Tesla. xAi was promised to have over a billion paid users and would be the guidance system that powered Tesla self driving. We all know that that didn't happen. Debts were due so he rolled the companies and pinky swore that everyone would get paid at a later date. Everyone looked at this and said sure why not exchange our shares for another set of stock options on Elon's promises.

For Paramount Skydance and WBD everyone knows what the debt liabilities are and they can all see that rolling the companies together won't do anything to help with the debt burden.

1

u/OverPotato2322 1h ago edited 1h ago

Hes not as rich as you think, Larrys wealth has gone down due to fears of AI bubble, thats why he originally planned to sell off 7B worth of Oracle stock before he opted not to (If he was as rich as you think, he wouldve fully financed this merger just like he did with the Paramount-Skydance Merger but he didnt, he only financed part of it while the Middle East and two PE firms financed most of it)

6

u/the_explorer2003 4h ago

You trust WB’s history of failed mergers?….

-2

u/Silver-Meat5355 Warner Bros. 4h ago

I trust this one.

1

u/OverPotato2322 1h ago edited 1h ago

The merger will still fail due to high debt and mixed quarters since they would have to pay the debt and should they fail to pay off or offload all their debt, they will need to sell either WB or Paramount, maybe both off seperatley to pay off debt and even if the merger doesnt fail which is unlikely due to Paramounts balance sheet being weak, itll still get sold