WB Discovery & Paramount in Merger Talks

It has been revealed by Variety that Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global have talked about the possibility of merging. The people who work for Paramount Global and WBD declined to speak.

Some sources say that on Tuesday in New York City, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav met with Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish to talk about the possibility of a merger. The talks were first reported by Axios. There is also a chance that Zaslav and Shari Redstone's companies could merge. Redstone's National Amusements owns a majority stake in Paramount Global.

Several news sources say that Redstone has been in talks to sell her NAI shares. The Journal reported that Redstone talked about selling her NAI stake to David Ellison, CEO of Skydance Media, who has teamed up with private equity firm RedBird Capital. She also met with Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, who is leaving the company, to talk about a possible deal. The Journal says that Paramount Global management has thought about firing more than 1,000 workers in early 2024 to save money.