Warner Bros Discovery shareholders approve Paramount Skydance deal
Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. announced on Thursday that its shareholders voted to approve its previously announced transaction with Paramount Skydance Corp. at a special meeting of stockholders.
"Shareholder approval marks another important milestone towards completing our acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, building on our successful equity and debt syndications and progress across regulatory approvals. We look forward to closing the transaction in the coming months and realizing the creation of a next-generation media and entertainment company that better serves both the creative community and consumers," a Paramount spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
The deal would put Paramount CEO David Ellison in charge of two Hollywood studios, along with two major newsrooms in CNN and CBS News. Paramount Skydance would also own both Paramount+ and HBO Max, although executives have suggested that they would merge the services into one streaming platform.
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory clearances.
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"We appreciate the support and confidence our stockholders have placed in us to unlock the full value of our world-class entertainment portfolio," Warner Bros. Discovery Board Chair Samuel A. Di Piazza Jr. said in a statement. "With Paramount, we look forward to creating an exceptional combined company that will expand consumer choice and benefit the global creative talent community."
The merger would mean that two of Hollywood’s oldest studios are under one roof, but Ellison has said he would keep Paramount and Warner Bros. as stand-alone operations and the combined company would release more than 30 movies a year.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said that his team has "transformed" the company and returned it to "industry leadership" over the past four years.
"Today’s stockholder approval is another key milestone toward completing this historic transaction that will deliver exceptional value to our stockholders. We will continue to work with Paramount to complete the remaining steps in this process that will create a leading, next-generation media and entertainment company," Zaslav added.
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In December, Warner Bros. announced it had reached a deal with Netflix to buy the Hollywood studio and HBO for $83 billion, prompting Paramount to launch a $108 billion hostile takeover bid for the entire company, including all of its cable assets like CNN, which would have been spun off into a separate company under the Netflix deal.
Netflix dropped a bid to buy Warner Bros. two months later after the studio announced Paramount's offer to buy the entire company was "superior." Paramount's revised offer raised Warner Bros. Discovery's value to $31 per share, putting the company's valuation at $111 billion.
Paramount also agreed to pay a $2.8 billion termination fee to Netflix.
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Ellison's billionaire father, Larry Ellison, is personally backing Paramount's bid, committing $45.7 billion in equity through the Ellison Trust, while Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi and Apollo will provide a $57.5 billion debt commitment.
Critics of the Paramount takeover have sounded the alarm about putting two legacy studios under one company, which many speculate will result in mass layoffs. Others are concerned about Ellison taking over CNN after his attempts to reduce liberal bias at CBS have irked critics.
Ellison has insisted that editorial independence "will absolutely be maintained" at CNN.
In addition to CNN, Paramount would take over cable assets including Discovery, TNT, TBS, Food Network, Cartoon Network and Animal Planet.
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Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.