Posted on 04/23/2026 8:41:30 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
An $81 billion Warner-Paramount mega merger has received shareholders’ stamp of approval, propelling a deal that could vastly reshape Hollywood and the wider media landscape closer to the finish line…
That corporate drama may now be over, but the implications remain. Thousands of actors, directors, writers and other industry professionals have voiced “unequivocal opposition” to the deal, in a letter arguing that further consolidation will lead to job losses and fewer choices for filmmakers and movie goers…
The merger would bring together two of Hollywood’s remaining five legacy studios. It would also join two major streaming platforms — Paramount+ and HBO Max — and two big names in America’s TV news landscape — CBS and CNN — as well as a heap of other brands and entertainment networks…
Company executives argue this will be good news for consumers, who they say will have access to bigger content libraries, particularly if HBO Max and Paramount+ become one streaming service…
Paramount CEO David Ellison has tried to assure filmmakers with a 45-day theatrical window guarantee and goal to release 30 movies a year between Paramount and Warner, which he’s said will remain stand-alone operations under a combined company…
Then there’s the news. Since coming under Skydance ownership less than a year ago, Paramount-owned CBS has already seen significant editorial shifts, notably with the installation of Free Press founder Bari Weiss as CBS News editor-in-chief. If the Warner takeover goes through, many are expecting similar changes at CNN, which has long attracted ire from President Donald Trump…
Other questions of political influence have piled up…Trump also has a close relationship with the Ellison family, particularly billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who is putting billions of dollars on the table to back the bid for his son’s company...
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
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As long as Warner Brothers is kept out of reach of the dirty paws of Netflix I’m ok with the merger.
No anti-trust issues?
How did taking over Warner work out for AT&T?
Now come the layoffs for the redundant employees.
CNN employees will go nuts................
They will leverage the synergies...
If Paramount is actually able to buy WBD, stockholders will get $31 (plus a minimum bonus, possibly).
But the stock is now $27.22 (actually down a bit), so the professionals are saying it will not happen.
WIKI
United Artists (UA) is an American film production and distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded on February 5, 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks as a venture premised on allowing actors to control their own financial and artistic interests rather than being dependent upon commercial studios.
After numerous ownership and structural changes and revamps, United Artists was acquired by media conglomerate Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1981 for a reported $350 million ($1.2 billion today).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Artists
I was against the merger as it will hurt the artists and industry. I would rather keep my stock, but at least I’ll get three times my stock purchase price.
Can we say ... YAY!!!!
It will hurt the artists and Hollywood? Plus you cash in on rising stock prices?
You just hit the triple parlay!
This is the consequence of spending a billion on woke crap movies....a new investor is needed to fill the hole.
Just what we don’t need— more centralized control over our entertainment industry.
Congrats! I get four times my purchase price!
Sometimes we just need a consolation prize for playing.
Indeed
Shareholder Impact: Shareholders received shares in the new Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) entity but saw their dividend payments from AT&T cut nearly in half.
Nope. Now we will have choice: the extreme Woke and the not so much woke. Before they were all part of the extreme woke.
Paramount + might improve the number and quality of streaming programs.
I know. I know it come to me free, no charge
There is a lot of words that all miss the point. The buyout is necessary to survive in a market so different than years ago When Paramount and Warner Bros meant something.
Legacy means already produced product that will allow some limited new product to be produced.
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