Summary

• Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global are in talks for a potential merger.
• The CEOs of both companies, Bob Bakish and David Zaslav, reportedly met to discuss the possible merger.
• The merger would bring together two major media conglomerates formed from other recent mergers.

Paramount Global are reportedly in talks for a merger. Both companies are the products of recent mergers, with Warner Bros. Discovery formed most recently out of the 2022 deal between WarnerMedia and Discovery, Inc. Paramount Global was formed from the 2019 merger between CBS Corporation and Viacom and was formerly known as ViacomCBS Inc. until 2022.

Per Axios, multiple sources are saying that Paramount Global's Bob Bakish and Warner Bros. Discovery's David Zaslav met with one another on Tuesday. The CEOs were reportedly discussing a possible merger between the two companies. If the merger does go through, the companies would not be equal parties as Warner Bros. Discovery is worth $29 billion and Paramount Global is only worth $10 billion, just over one-third of that total.

A Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Merger Could Have Wide-Ranging Consequences

The merger between the two companies would create a powerful entity in the entertainment space. Warner Bros. Discovery owns many prominent brands in addition to Warner Bros. and Discovery, including DC, HBO, CNN Worldwide, TNT Sports, and the streaming service Max, while Paramount Global owns BET, VH1, MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, CMT, Paramount Network (the home of Taylor Sheridan's Yellowstone), Showtime, and the streaming service Paramount+, in addition to Paramount and CBS. Both companies also hold a minority stake in the network The CW.

The CW was put on the market in 2022 and the Texas-based company Nexstar now holds the majority stake.

This potent combination of companies and brands doesn't necessarily benefit audiences. For instance, in the wake of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger, Zaslav became a lightning rod for controversy with a variety of divisive decisions, especially as it related to the streaming service Max (formerly HBO Max). This included the quiet removal of hundreds of streaming titles, some of which were Max exclusives, and the tax write-off cancellations of the Batgirl movie, Scoob! Holiday Haunt, and Coyote vs. Acme, which were all either completed or in post-production.

The merger between Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global could potentially result in a merger between their primary streaming services with similar fallout. It could also encourage other entertainment companies to follow suit with their own mergers. It is too early to tell if these reports will pan out into an official announcement, but the ripple effect in the entertainment industry would likely be wide-ranging and unpredictable.

Source: Axios