Paramount Skydance is preparing to make a formal offer for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), with a potential bid in the range of $22 to $24 per share, CNBC’s David Faber reported Friday.
Faber, citing sources familiar with the matter, cautioned that the price range remains speculative and that a formal offer could land later than previously anticipated. WBD shares edged higher following the report, gaining about 1.5% Friday morning to trade around $19 apiece.
The development marks the latest twist in what could become one of the year’s most consequential media deals. Paramount Skydance — the newly merged entity combining Shari Redstone’s Paramount Global with David Ellison’s Skydance Media — has been widely expected to make a play for Warner Bros. Discovery. The offer, if finalized, would potentially preempt WBD’s recently announced plan to separate its global TV networks business from its streaming operations and film studios.
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Deal Structure and Financing
According to Faber, the bid could be structured as roughly 70% to 80% cash, with the balance in stock. The cash portion would be backed in part by Larry Ellison, the Oracle co-founder and father of Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, whose fortune and influence have been seen as critical to the merger’s financing.
A large cash-heavy offer could prove attractive to WBD shareholders, many of whom have endured steep losses since the 2022 merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery that created the current company. Despite a deep content library, sports rights, and marquee networks like CNN, TNT, and Discovery Channel, Warner Bros. Discovery has been weighed down by debt and questions over streaming profitability.
Echoes of Past Media Megadeals
If consummated, the transaction would mark one of the most significant consolidations in Hollywood since Disney’s $71 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox in 2019. That deal gave Disney access to Fox’s film studio, TV assets, and a controlling stake in Hulu — transforming it into a streaming juggernaut. Paramount Skydance’s potential tie-up with Warner Bros. Discovery could similarly reshape the balance of power, creating a rival media giant with two storied studios, a vast television portfolio, and expanded streaming platforms in Paramount+ and Max.
At the same time, the deal would carry risks reminiscent of AT&T’s $85 billion purchase of Time Warner in 2018, a transaction that saddled AT&T with debt and ultimately ended in a spin-off of WarnerMedia into Discovery just four years later. Analysts caution that Paramount and WBD, both facing restructuring and heavy leverage, may encounter similar difficulties in aligning corporate cultures, cutting costs, and turning their streaming services profitable.
The proposed structure — heavily reliant on cash financing and backed by Ellison’s fortune — would also draw parallels to Comcast’s 2011 acquisition of NBCUniversal. Comcast used its balance sheet strength to pull off that deal, but integration challenges tested its ability to balance legacy cable revenues with a growing digital footprint.
The potential Paramount Skydance–WBD deal comes amid renewed consolidation pressure in the media industry. With streaming growth slowing, cord-cutting accelerating, and Wall Street demanding profitability over subscriber counts, scale has once again become the sector’s guiding logic. Paramount Skydance’s bid reflects the same survival instinct that fueled earlier combinations, though success will hinge on whether the merged company can leverage its expanded assets without being overwhelmed by debt and integration challenges.
Against this backdrop, if Paramount Skydance’s offer materializes in the reported range, it would represent a significant premium over WBD’s current trading price. But as history shows, the road from announcement to success is fraught with risks.