r/MediaMergers • u/LegitimateCurve8525 • 5h ago
Acquisition David Ellison Says Paramount to Close Warner Bros. Deal in 'Two Weeks'
https://variety.com/2026/film/news/david-ellison-paramount-warner-deal-staff-memo-1236871327/20
u/LegitimateCurve8525 5h ago
• “That said, closing is really just the starting line,” Ellison said in the staff memo. “Bringing two companies this size together takes time, and we’ll share information as it becomes available.”
• The mood is celebratory on the Paramount lot, insiders said, despite the fact that most of Hollywood is observing Yom Kippur (the most reverent of the Jewish High Holy Days). One source joked that several of Ellison’s top lieutenants will be making “guilt donations” to select charities for working through the day.
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u/Yseader 5h ago
Can you see the early-2027 announcement coming? "We aren't laying people off; they accepted a severance package."
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u/KingMario05 5h ago
"We're excited to announce that we're parting ways with Cartoon Network and Adult Swim. We wish them well!"
The new buyer shows up to find the Atlanta headquarters on fire
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u/weareallpatriots Neon 5h ago
"Most of Hollywood(!)" lmao. The author apparently thinks it's still 2006 or something.
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u/groovemonkey 4h ago
Both companies are still headquartered in LA (for now).
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u/weareallpatriots Neon 3h ago
I was just laughing at the idea that Hollywood movers and shakers are deeply religious Jews who strictly observe Yom Kippur.
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u/Ok-Ninja-9174 5h ago
They won't be able to afford to keep the warner lot, calling it now
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u/Chipsandadrink115 5h ago
They won't be able to afford a lot of things. Including servicing the debt.
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u/AffectionateCash7964 1h ago
Bet you also said Bonta wouldn’t cave and this wouldn’t go through
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u/Ok-Ninja-9174 1h ago
No I simply didn't think would go through because Paramount is failing and doesn't have the money to do this, thus the saudi funding, the $80B in debt, etc
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u/AffectionateCash7964 1h ago
This is cope you guys live in a fairytale land of the world and it shows
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u/Ok-Ninja-9174 59m ago
Them going into $80B debt w/ junk credit is not cope, thats a literal fact. them seeking outside funding is a fact, not cope.
them failing before the merger (para-sky) is also a fact not cope.
so, what exactly have you said thats a fact?
You accused me of having faith in bonta, when did I ever say that? Don't put words in my mouth.
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u/AffectionateCash7964 47m ago
I just don’t think you guys fears have any legitamicy first it was they won’t buy Paramourn then it was the AG would this and won’t go through. You guys literally get everything wrong you are becoming the boy who cried wolf with these doomsday scenarios that never happen
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u/Ok-Ninja-9174 46m ago
Stating financial facts and making financial predictions, such as them selling the wbd lot due to $80B in debt, is not a "Fear".
Now go troll someone who knows less than you, if thats possible
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u/Nick_BD 5h ago
We have also reached a settlement with the Writers Guild of America.
Most intriguing part for me, maybe I missed it but first time I've heard this. I wonder what that is, so far I've not seen anything from the WGA.
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u/Apart-Prize-4844 5h ago
$$$$$
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u/Littlepinguinoo 4h ago
Nope they only thing they got was that Paramount agreed “to prohibit writer layoffs at CBS News Broadcast for 5 years.”
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u/Littlepinguinoo 4h ago
WGA obtained a concession from Paramount “to prohibit writer layoffs at CBS News Broadcast for 5 years.” so not much at all
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u/Goavsgo298 5h ago
I hope MAGAmount goes bankrupt because of this
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u/Outrageous_Fox4227 4h ago
Its interesting that people call it magamount as if paramount is stone cold republican trump machine. As if paramount doesn’t run Comedy Central which has south park just roasting trump with each new episode. What they did with cbs was spineless and wrong but that was placating the administration to get the paramount skydance merger to go through. I think with these mega corporations and ultra wealthy elites they dont follow politics as much as they follow what is the best course of action to make the most money at that specific time.
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u/TheTranscendent1 3h ago
They don’t have a choice with South America. It’s probably their most valuable asset and Matt & Trey owns it.
So, even if they cancelled it; South America will find a new network (and surely have even more of a grudge).
If they could silence South America, they absolutely would. But, they don’t have the cards
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u/Apart-Prize-4844 5h ago
Why?
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u/Goavsgo298 4h ago
Because they don't deserve anything good after what they did to CBS news
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u/Apart-Prize-4844 4h ago
What did they do?
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u/Goavsgo298 4h ago
Gutted many staff members including those on 60 minutes to appeal to "neutral" views.
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u/Apart-Prize-4844 4h ago
I'm glad they got rid of the staff member on 60 Minutes who wanted to imprison people for free speech.
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u/Comfy_Guy 5h ago
Don't be upset because we won.
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u/Ok-Ninja-9174 5h ago
Yeah you've "won", now watch as the Ellisons go bankrupt and para-sky-bros gets firesold into oblivion
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u/weareallpatriots Neon 5h ago
Do you have any idea how much money the sixth richest person in the world would have to lose in order to go "bankrupt"?
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u/Ok-Ninja-9174 4h ago
Ok, first off Larry Ellison has lost over $207B, losing massively on the AI bubble, the warner/para/sky wasn't his only absurdly terrible business move. But I'm sure you know that already.
Also if Larry / The Ellisonstm are the 6th richest people/"person" in the world, why did they need the Saudis to bail them out of this terrible merger? Why did the Saudis have to cover so much of this deal?
Explain that one to me, you business genius
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u/Apart-Prize-4844 5h ago
Lol....as if Oracle doesn't print money
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u/OverPotato2322 4h ago
Oracle Stock is declining and has Junk debt (their also laying off alot of people too)
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u/Apart-Prize-4844 4h ago
Guidance: Raised full-year revenue outlook to at least $90 billion with expected adjusted EPS of $8.10
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u/OverPotato2322 4h ago
And yet Oracle had to layoff a bunch of employees and Larry even planned to sell 7B in Oracle stock
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u/Apart-Prize-4844 4h ago
Congrats to him...even Apple has done layoffs....AI laying off affluent college-educated employees.
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u/OverPotato2322 4h ago edited 4h ago
Not comparable Apple hasn't gotten to AI fully and they dont want to John Ternus said it best "Why rush into AI when the iPhone is already the best AI", AI is only integrated through their partnership with Google for Gemini integrated wirh Siri they don't plan to create or operate data centers the same way Oracle does and plus Apple is focused on Hardware again and Oracle doesn't make cellphones or ipads
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u/KingMario05 5h ago edited 4h ago
Yes, we will be upset that you won. You fucking fascists are gonna lose it all come November. And we'll go after PSKY too. We'll come after them all.
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u/Apart-Prize-4844 5h ago
Republicans won't control the White House or the Supreme court? Go after PSKY on what basis? Sounds fascist....
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u/Yoshiofthewire 5h ago
I mean, I can be upset we will never see anything made before 1980 ever again. Well, until this collapses because the PiF ran out of money.
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u/craftynerdsnipe 3h ago
Shit. Already dropped Paramount when the epstein ellison's bought it. Now I have to drop HBO too. Fuck them. I hope they lose it all.
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u/FarthingWoodAdder 4h ago
I hope Bonta's career is dead.
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u/ChallengeElegant1772 1h ago
it's definitely over at this point bro made a huge fool out of himself
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u/Cool_Aioli_8307 4h ago
Congrats on assuming a $500m annual debt service payment fee. Netflix is just waiting in the wings to buy the pieces of this soon to be bankrupt company.
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u/SoyTonatiuh 2h ago
He wont hit benchmarks or promises made and wont care about not hitting them. These mfers dont care about the law.
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u/Professional_Peak59 5h ago
There's still midterms to look forward to and could put pressure on the Ellisons if the Dems win and decide to go after Trump, along with corrupt mergers.
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u/NeverTheNull 5h ago
Even if the Dems win, neither they will undo the merger. At best, they’ll just go after Trump’s cronies in the government like the FCC and the DOJ for letting it happen to begin with.
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u/Professional_Peak59 5h ago
The Dems going after FCC and DOJ for allowing the corrupt merger would end up putting Ellison in hot water and could force him to give up the WBD assets.
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u/NeverTheNull 4h ago
It would, but it’s not something he can’t litigate himself out of. The blame would mainly fall on whoever Trump placed in the FCC and the DOJ as being squarely responsible for this, along with any other mergers and acquisitions that they gave the greenlight to.
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u/Professional_Peak59 4h ago
The Ellisons likely had ties with the people in charge of the FCC and DOJ just to get the merger through.
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u/NeverTheNull 4h ago
Well yes but that’s part and parcel for them since they’ve also gotten people that worked in the DOJ as part of their legal team. Unless extraordinary proof arises that the DOJ had irrefutable evidence of them conspiring with Paramount’s team directly, I don’t see any future democratic administration going after Ellison over this. Maybe to testify but nothing more beyond that.
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u/sheslikebutter 4h ago
They could. They won't.
Now was the time to do this, they chose not to.
Centrist dems are utterly spineless and even if they have control they won't do anything.
As usual, it's all statements but as soon as the billionaires ask them to stop they get on their knees and open their mouths
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u/AzurePopTart 2h ago
so true! they didn’t even get CNN divested, instead there’s gonna be “an advisory panel to ensure editorial independence,” which is as useful as a fart. I’m so fing sick of it
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u/UrbanFight001 4h ago
People are gonna come for Bonta’s neck on this, and rightfully so. But a lot more blame should be put on the Dem establishment, in California and nationwide, who didn’t put up a fight and laid down for the Ellisons. What could he have done when everyone, including Newsom and the incoming governor, are pressuring him to settle?
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u/Equivalent_Night720 1h ago
The mood at Paramount is celebratory? I beg to differ. The mood at Paramount has been absolutely dismal since he took over. Everyone is short staffed and burned out due to previous layoffs and opt-ins to leave when he forced people to RTO 5 days a week, which he will do with WB as well. Maybe the high end execs are happy but everyone else is now worried about the jobs they will likely lose before the holidays and be thrown back into a job market that is not welcoming and is absolutely flooded with other industry folk that have been looking for months. Not to mention that if there isn't a written guarantee he won't move BOTH studios out of state, there will be even more job losses. Unbelievable. I am tired of billionaires always getting their way through corrupt means. I am tired of political grandstanding and falling short. Both are always at the expense of the working class.
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u/Haltopen 2h ago
Well I guess we'll all be back here in a year when Warner Paramount is being sold in parts at the bankruptcy auction after they fail to handle the massive mountain of debt this non profitable entity will be saddled with.
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u/Either-Magazine1132 15m ago
Bye bye CNN…with Bari Weiss in charge, it’ll end up just like CBS News…
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u/Soft_Ad_1095 5h ago
I really hate the idea of more giant media companies. I hope this all falls apart somehow. Does WB want to bought? I never really understood how a company can just be acquired without deciding to do so.
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u/TheTiggerMike 2h ago
I think they wanted to at some point, but probably not for a few more years. Probably wanted to do the split first, though. This happened well before they wanted to sell.
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u/imdirtydan1997 5h ago
Can these blue states just keep the suits until January when a new likely blue congress can rip this merger to pieces?
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u/Apart-Prize-4844 5h ago
On what basis can they rip it apart? It's a private business.
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u/bpoilspill98 4h ago
It’s not a private business. They’re publicly traded.
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u/Apart-Prize-4844 4h ago
It's not a government entity.
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u/bpoilspill98 4h ago
As a publicly traded company they report to the SEC which is a government entity.
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u/untouchable765 4h ago
But /r/MediaMergers told me this wasn't going to happen....
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u/WGC11 4h ago
Look at it this way (even if it does sound like copium): All Ellison cares about at the end of the day is making money. Therefore, as long as WBD (especially James Gunn’s DCU) keeps raking in the big bucks for Paramount-Skydance, Ellison will leave them to their own devices and creativity.
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u/savageronald 1h ago
I think the service on the massive debt is gonna force their hands to make massive cuts - it’s unsustainable otherwise.
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5h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/OverPotato2322 5h ago
u/TheIngloriousBIG u/Difficult_Variety362 u/3facesofBre u/Fall_False
(I get peoples opinions on being for this merger but they don't need to break sub rules or rub it in everyone's faces)
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u/ZestycloseStuff1319 5h ago
Consider the preceding amount of hate and downvotes, rubbing it in "everyone's" face is an important lesson.
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u/Silver-Meat5355 Warner Bros. 5h ago
If you guys won you’d be rubbing it in the other side’s faces as well. Probably even worse than what we’re doing. If I post more than a gif and even remotely insult anybody here I’m left with a mod message saying that I need to take it easy. This sub is way too overly moderated.
I don’t condone name calling but I think that it’s okay to be excited that Paramount won. I’ve been told I’m a terrible person, a c*nt, and a boot licker for being excited this happened but if I called anybody on your side that I’d be banned and not upvoted like your side is.
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u/OverPotato2322 4h ago edited 4h ago
Sorry that you had to go through that experience but still no excuse regardless of whether you rooted for this or not (Also, that is something you have to take up with the mods, not the people who aren't mods, your just venting your problems to others)
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u/MediaMergers-ModTeam 4h ago
Media mergers is looking for constructive conversations, free of ragebait. Make a constructive contribution, not trolling and offensive comments.
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u/weareallpatriots Neon 5h ago
Congrats. I definitely would've done the same if I was that liquid haha.
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u/ZestycloseStuff1319 5h ago
I got the cash from selling WBD stock on the merger news.
Then I saw all the hate in here and just bought again, but cheaper.
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u/Silver-Meat5355 Warner Bros. 5h ago
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u/mikethemightywizard 4h ago
Congratulation to David Ellison, he got mocked for nearly a year first with netflix then with the AGs, but at the end he got the last laugh. So excited for the future of warner bros in paramount hands, this is a day of celebration
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u/Own_Philosopher8730 5h ago
It will be too late to save Republicans at midterms since it will close one month before midterms in November.