Paramount Skydance Eyeing Warner Bros. Discovery Acquisition
September 11, 2025
The new Paramount, a Skydance Corporation, reportedly is looking to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, including its pending legacy networks business.
The undisclosed largely all-cash possible bid, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the situation, would be backed by the Ellison Family, which includes David Ellison, CEO of Paramount, and his billionaire father Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle, who on Wednesday became the richest man in the world (briefly) when the his stake in Oracle increased $100 billion in value.
The Ellisons recently closed on a $8 billion acquisition of Paramount Global, which has a $17 billion market cap. WBD has a market cap of $32 billion.
WBD is in the process of splitting off its legacy networks media assets, and billions in debt, with the studio and streaming businesses remaining together as a separate unit.
WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels recently disclosed that he was interested in selling the 20% stake the spin-off entity gets in Warner Bros. ahead of the separation.
The Journal contends the Ellison bid could be an attempt to thwart the future media asset sale for the studio and streaming business against deep pocket tech companies such as Amazon and Apple. Netflix, which heretofore has avoided mega third-party mergers, could also be interested in the studio assets separately.
The news sent Paramount shares up more than 10% in midafternoon trading, while WBD shares shot up almost 25%. Netflix shares dropped 4%.
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