WBD Acquisition Thread

[Moe]

When states sue the corporation is merging with other corporation, so judge can do two options.

1) Block the corporation from close the merger

or

2) Keep two corporations separated with opposite still manage the corporation (like Nexstar-Tegna)

It is not known if PSKY would get either of them but state AGs hope for first option to inflict on Ellison to realize that M&A is not good solution. I'm definitely sure that many of you hoped for first option.

Watch out for WBD - they could sue PSKY if they close the merger too soon to avoid the fees as acknowledge that merger would be unlikely to go through.

I'm no longer buy contents from Paramount, also will not to watch their movies.

WBD is seen as very HUGE deal that isn't much with Tegna, so I'm much more angry at Paramount than Nexstar.

Speaking of that, Skydance refused to pause the pursuit so the legal proceedings can play out. The states ended up filing to seek both a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction:

States Seek Injunction to Prevent Paramount-Warner Bros. Deal From Closing

A coalition of 12 states asked a court to issue a restraining order to pause the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger while an antitrust case is heard.

variety.com

Also, Skydance's elevating their empty threat of moving Paramount Global's operations away from California:

"Alternatively, David could start playing hardball. On Sunday, Semafor reported that David’s “friends and advisors” had been encouraging the Paramount chief “to consider shifting his business out of the state.” The float was perceived by many media insiders as a mere bluff to deter the suit. But several sources close to David assured me that such drastic measures are not out of the question. After all, they reminded me, David’s father, Larry, relocated Oracle to Austin from Redwood City six years ago. “Let’s see how far [the A.G.s] want to take this,” one insider said.

Indeed, the entire premise of David’s pursuit of a media empire is that he intends to compete with the real players and won’t be moored by legacy. “Think about who’s in his ear, think about his dad,” one source who knows David told me. “David has spent his life surrounded by people who are thinking far beyond Hollywood.”"

https://puck.news/newsletter_content/the-cnn-cbs-news-omission-trumps-times-subpoenas/

I'm praying that lawsuit would be successful.

 

[awinger24]

When states sue the corporation is merging with other corporation, so judge can do two options.

1) Block the corporation from close the merger

or

2) Keep two corporations separated with opposite still manage the corporation (like Nexstar-Tegna)

It is not known if PSKY would get either of them but state AGs hope for first option to inflict on Ellison to realize that M&A is not good solution. I'm definitely sure that many of you hoped for first option.

Watch out for WBD - they could sue PSKY if they close the merger too soon to avoid the fees as acknowledge that merger would be unlikely to go through.

I'm no longer buy contents from Paramount, also will not to watch their movies.

WBD is seen as very HUGE deal that isn't much with Tegna, so I'm much more angry at Paramount than Nexstar.


I'm praying that lawsuit would be successful.

Paramount says it will take the Warner Bros merger to the Supreme Court if states block the deal
PSKY wants to take it to the Supreme Court so they can close the merger.

 

[Moe]

Paramount says it will take the Warner Bros merger to the Supreme Court if states block the deal
PSKY wants to take it to the Supreme Court so they can close the merger.

US Supreme Court is unpredictable and they aren't rubber stamp court for Trump.

It is all depends on Roberts, Barrett, Kavanaugh and sometime, Gorsuch to interpret that merger violate the antitrust law that is very complicated, so they could side with states to block the merger completely.

Trump Admin didn't opt to escalate to US Supreme Court when block the AT&T-WarnerMedia merger failed, so situation was different because Trump tried to block it on political ground instead of concern about competitive issues. Also, AT&T-WarnerMedia is vertical and PSKY-WBD is horizontal.

It is much easier for vertical to do merger but more harder for horizontal.

 

[LinusFan303]

The WGA is suing too

I think pay TV companies should jump in too, Direct TV was smart to do it during the Tegna thing, this hurt them too. Comcast might be wary because of reasons, but it'd be good if PAY TV companies join in.

 

[Moe]

The WGA is suing too

I think pay TV companies should jump in too, Direct TV was smart to do it during the Tegna thing, this hurt them too. Comcast might be wary because of reasons, but it'd be good if PAY TV companies join in.

Well said, agreed with your post.

I do think that pay TV companies like Comcast, Charter, DirecTV, Dish, Google (YouTube TV) and Disney (Hulu Live TV) are too terrified of damaged relationship with Paramount when there is next renewal for carriage agreement. If Paramount channels become worthless due to cord cutter era, so join with states or WGA wouldn't be bad idea.

Paramount could accuse Comcast over NBCUniversal since Comcast own it, even both are plan to splitting.

If you ask for my opinion about Paramount channels are worthless? Hell yeah, spamming of same shows and subscribers, including myself and you are paying a lot, so we expect better contents for higher pricing.

 

[themidnightlore]

There's one Paramount channel I'd save in the States, and that's Smithsonian Channel. (And I feel it's kinda a Cinderella of sorts in the Paramount side, no one talks about it :/)

 

[Daikun]

Paramount may leave California if the state decides to sue.

Looks like it might be Tennessee.

Tennessee Is Courting Paramount — And the Studio Is Considering It (Exclusive)

Paramount CEO David Ellison and his family have deep ties to the Volunteer State and the mogul is now in a legal battle with California.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

EDIT: In other news, Zaslav's earlier tax write-offs are being used as an argument against the merger.

 

[Moe]

If Paramount moves to Tennessee, so they would lose the influence with actors, writers and directors that are much bigger in LA, so it could make Paramount much smaller studio than used to be. Also, Paramount could see as more divisive and liberal customers could associate them as hostile company.

Viacom did tried with Orlando in 1990s and it didn't work well, so they moved to LA.

There are people got hit by affordable housing issues in Nashville wouldn't want Paramount to move, otherwise housing will get more expensive and there are many local people aren't happy with Californians moving to their state.

I think that empty threat is more likely because it is very expensive to move the studio out of California, also if merger turn out to be disaster, it would make situation much more dire.

Hopefully UK is holding up for very long time.

 

[LinusFan303]

Ironically if Skydance ended up with WBD, they would have a slight in with Tennessee since HGTV is still based there. Then they can make House Hunters: the Movie.

I can't really blame Tennessee for courting, but they should understand that if a company is thinking about throwing a stromp because of what a state is doing, they'll do it again to their state.

 

[lowell]

I'm praying that lawsuit would be successful.

Even though any of the options aren't a 100% lock, I'm hoping for the AI bubble's popping to happen in the middle of this.

If the U.S's regional war escalates to the point where the Middle East pulls out their $24B contributions, I'll take that as well.

David Ellison no longer having acesss to substantial money sources renders him powerless to force his way through things he wants.

I think that empty threat is more likely because it is very expensive to move the studio out of California, also if merger turn out to be disaster, it would make situation much more dire.

Hopefully UK is holding up for very long time.

Letter might be legit but the moving threat's definitely empty because Ellison's clearly looking desperate to avoid having his ticking fees kicked in.

Ironically if Skydance ended up with WBD, they would have a slight in with Tennessee since HGTV is still based there. Then they can make House Hunters: the Movie.

I can't really blame Tennessee for courting, but they should understand that if a company is thinking about throwing a stromp because of what a state is doing, they'll do it again to their state.

So WarnerDiscovery still retains some office space there? The article says the Knoxville building was sold off in 2023:

"For Warner Bros. Discovery, moving headquarters to Tennessee would mean a return to the state. The company used to maintain a massive office complex in Knoxville stemming from the 2017 Scripps Network deal. It sold the property in 2023."

 

[Nexonius]

Paramount Seeks Recusal Of Judge On State AGs' Antitrust Challenge

The company claimed the judge, P. Casey Pitts, had an "appearance of bias" because of previous representation of the WGA.

deadline.com

 

[LinusFan303]

A 4th Lawsuit is in. This time a Parmamount-SkyDance investor. David and Larry Ellison Sued by Paramount Investor Over Alleged Trump Side Deal

"For Warner Bros. Discovery, moving headquarters to Tennessee would mean a return to the state. The company used to maintain a massive office complex in Knoxville stemming from the 2017 Scripps Network deal. It sold the property in 2023."

They sold that space and moved somewhere smaller in Knoxville. Warner Bros. Discovery selling Knoxville headquarters, moving to new space

 

[themidnightlore]

Everyone is getting to suing Paramount, no way the merger will happen if lawsuits keep raining on them.

 

[RandomMe]

Everyone is getting to suing Paramount, no way the merger will happen if lawsuits keep raining on them.

So the merger will likely fall or?

 

[Moe]

So the merger will likely fall or?

Not enough to know and it take weeks.

I'm very worried about future of WBD.

 

[lowell]

They sold that space and moved somewhere smaller in Knoxville. Warner Bros. Discovery selling Knoxville headquarters, moving to new space

Ah, that makes sense. Not sure if Zaslav will decide to move those operations over to Atlanta's Techwood Campus down the road to cut down on the space leasing costs.

Not enough to know and it take weeks.

I'm very worried about future of WBD.

The more parties that bring claims does mean more legal arsenal to combat Ellison's lawyers.

Their informal response to the states AGs coalition's legal challenge is pretty awkward, though:

"Indeed, someone close to Team PSKY told me that while they are still “trying to figure out the options and implications” of the lawsuit, their preliminary read of the complaint is that Bonta’s legal argument is pretty thin.

In this person’s view, the Bonta lawsuit and request for a T.R.O. and permanent injunction will merely serve to slow things down, which won’t mean much of anything unless the deal continues past September 30, which is when the so-called “ticking fee” starts accruing for WBD shareholders at the rate of $6.7 million a day, or about $650 million a quarter. It’s “so unnecessary to weaponize antitrust this way,” Team PSKY told me. “They totally lose the moral high ground to criticize the D.O.J., just silly.”"

Speaking of the Ellisons, here's an outlook analysis surrounding Oracle and the AI stock bubble, since Larry's stock is being used as the pursuit's loan collateral:

"“All these guys are running toward the cliff. You know, My capex is bigger than your capex, and, If I don’t keep spending, you’re going to keep spending. I don’t want to lose out to you, so I have to keep spending,” the legendary investor George Noble told me earlier this week, describing the madness surrounding this A.I. moment in the market. As a seasoned investor, it’s difficult to know what to do, he conceded. “You just sit there, and it’s like, you want to blow your brains out,” he said.

Indeed, George told me that he thinks the current A.I. mania and rash of inflated technology stocks could foment a crisis “far worse” than the dot-com bubble of a generation ago. “The sheer size of this in terms of dollars involved, and therefore the impact on the economy when the fallout comes, is going to be much more significant, and there’s this sort of existential imperative,” he said.

George is intently focused on Oracle in particular. While many of the Magnificent Seven and hyperscalers have been rewarded by the markets for their infrastructure investment, Oracle stock is down 42 percent during the last year and now has a market capitalization of $382 billion.

The spreads have widened on Oracle’s debt, too. George is awaiting the next quarterly earnings report to learn whether the company has pulled back on capex. If so, he said, that will be “a warning sign” that it’s “game over” for the “whole A.I. complex.”"

https://puck.news/newsletter_content/bonta-vs-the-arbs-the-elon-economy/

 

[Moe]

It looks like Luke Bouma want to spread the fear about what happened if merger failed and WBD continue to remain as separate corporation.

Warner Bros. Discovery Faces Mass Layoffs, 10 Cable TV Networks Shutting Down, and Bankruptcy If Its Merger With Paramount Fails | Cord Cutters News

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), one of the world’s largest media conglomerates encompassing HBO, HBO Max, CNN, Warner Bros. studios, and a vast portfolio of cable networks, stands at a critical crossroads. Its proposed $110+ billion acquisition by Paramount Skydance, announced in February 2026...

cordcuttersnews.com

Closure of 10+ cable channels aren't surprising and it is very expected when streaming era matured, so you will see a lot of those situation like that in late 2020s and 2030s. Discovery channels, former Scripps channels and secondary channels like Boomerang would get hit very hard, along with number of oversea channels. I do believe that CN/AS, TCM, TBS, HBO and TNT would be safer if it wasn't for Paramount.

If Paramount-WBD merger happened and end up as failure, so many or all of linear networks would be closed or sold off, also Paramount and WBD libraries could be sold in pieces, known as fragmentation that could be bad as or worse than MGM in 1980s and RKO in 1950s.

I do believe that WBD would opt to split the linear networks, along with unload the massive debt to keep HBO and WBD studio safer like they planned to do before talk about merger with PSKY.

I wouldn't object if PSKY and WBD agrees to combine Paramount+ and HBO Max, so it would be more desirable than combine two studios and linear networks. It would be like Hulu when it was new in 2000s.

 

[zakawer2]

The failure of the merger would be more costly on Paramount than on WBD. I mean, WBD earns a USD 7 billion breakup fee from Paramount, and there's also the ticking fee on Paramount as well.

 

[Moe]

The failure of the merger would be more costly on Paramount than on WBD. I mean, WBD earns a USD 7 billion breakup fee from Paramount, and there's also the ticking fee on Paramount as well.

That’s not what I’m saying.

I said if Ellison win the lawsuit and PSKY-WBD merger closes, so when transition didn’t go smooth and end up as failure like Time Warner-AOL or much worse, so Ellison would be forced to do deep cut, close or sell all of linear TV networks, sell PSKY and WBD libraries in pieces and sell studio properties.

It is fragmentation of studios.

Read 2nd paragraph again - I said if PSKY-WBD merger happened.

If Paramount-WBD merger happened and end up as failure, so many or all of linear networks would be closed or sold off, also Paramount and WBD libraries could be sold in pieces, known as fragmentation that could be bad as or worse than MGM in 1980s and RKO in 1950s.

 

[RandomMe]

It looks like Luke Bouma want to spread the fear about what happened if merger failed and WBD continue to remain as separate corporation.

Warner Bros. Discovery Faces Mass Layoffs, 10 Cable TV Networks Shutting Down, and Bankruptcy If Its Merger With Paramount Fails | Cord Cutters News

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), one of the world’s largest media conglomerates encompassing HBO, HBO Max, CNN, Warner Bros. studios, and a vast portfolio of cable networks, stands at a critical crossroads. Its proposed $110+ billion acquisition by Paramount Skydance, announced in February 2026...

cordcuttersnews.com

Closure of 10+ cable channels aren't surprising and it is very expected when streaming era matured, so you will see a lot of those situation like that in late 2020s and 2030s. Discovery channels, former Scripps channels and secondary channels like Boomerang would get hit very hard, along with number of oversea channels. I do believe that CN/AS, TCM, TBS, HBO and TNT would be safer if it wasn't for Paramount.

If Paramount-WBD merger happened and end up as failure, so many or all of linear networks would be closed or sold off, also Paramount and WBD libraries could be sold in pieces, known as fragmentation that could be bad as or worse than MGM in 1980s and RKO in 1950s.

I do believe that WBD would opt to split the linear networks, along with unload the massive debt to keep HBO and WBD studio safer like they planned to do before talk about merger with PSKY.

I wouldn't object if PSKY and WBD agrees to combine Paramount+ and HBO Max, so it would be more desirable than combine two studios and linear networks. It would be like Hulu when it was new in 2000s.

I'm curious as to what the ten channels are. Mostly side channels that still exist because of contracts that refuse to end.