Fresh off acquiring Paramount Global, the Ellison family is preparing a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The outlet reports that the majority cash bid will be for the entire company, inclusive of its cable networks and movie studio. A specific price for the bid, which has not yet been submitted and could fall apart, was not disclosed.
Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery spiked over 35% on Thursday following the report, while Paramount stock jumped more than 5%. WBD currently has a market capitalization of $39.8 billion, while Paramount has a market cap of $17.95 billion.
A spokesperson for Paramount declined to comment, while WBD did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment.
In August, David Ellison’s Skydance Media closed its $8 billion merger with Paramount after a lengthy review process by the Federal Communications Commission.
The two-step deal saw Ellison acquire Shari Redstone’s National Amusements, which controlled 77.4% of the Paramount Class A common stock outstanding and approximately 9.5% of the overall equity of the company, before merging with the Hollywood studio, whose assets include CBS, Paramount Pictures, Comedy Central, MTV, BET Media Group, Nickelodeon, Paramount+ and Pluto TV.
It included $2.4 billion for Redstone, $4.5 billion to non-NAI Paramount shareholders and an additional $1.5 billion in new capital to help pay down debt and recapitalize the company’s balance sheet. The Ellison family put up about $6 billion in financing, while the remainder came from private equity firm RedBird Capital Partners.
The report of a bid from the Ellison family also comes as Warner Bros. Discovery is on track to split its TV networks and studios & streaming businesses into two separate companies by mid-2026: Warner Bros. and Discovery Global.
Warner Bros., which will be led by current CEO David Zaslav, will house the studios and streaming business, including Warner Bros. Television Group, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, DC Studios, HBO, HBO Max, Warner Bros. Games, Tours, Retail and Experiences, as well as studio production facilities in Burbank and Leavesden.
Discovery Global, which will be led by WBD chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels, will house CNN, TNT Sports in the U.S., Discovery, top free-to-air channels across Europe, Discovery+ and Bleacher Report (B/R). It will also hold a 20% stake in Warner Bros. and the majority of the combined company’s $35.6 billion in gross debt.
Paramount is currently looking to exceed $2 billion in cost savings, including eyeing up to 3,000 job cuts by November, reviewing its real estate portfolio and improving the company’s tech capabilities with plans to leverage tools such as virtual production studios and AI-assisted localization for content creation. It also wants to move Paramount+, Pluto TV and BET+ over to the same backend infrastructure next year.
