Paramount Skydance to Acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in $110 Billion Deal

Paramount Skydance Corporation revealed Friday that it has agreed to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery for cash—a transaction valued at $110 billion. The deal ends a hostile takeover bid and a bidding war for the company that included offers from Netflix. 

Each company’s board unanimously signed off on the merger. Under the new deal, Paramount+, HBO Max, and Pluto TV will operate under one umbrella. Paramount is set to pay $31 per share for outstanding Warner Bros. Discovery shares. 

Warner Bros. Discovery’s equity value in the deal totals $81 billion. The deal, expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2026, is currently awaiting regulatory approval, in addition to a shareholder vote scheduled for early spring.

“From the very beginning, our pursuit of Warner Bros. Discovery has been guided by a clear purpose: to honor the legacy of two iconic companies while accelerating our vision of building a next-generation media and entertainment company,” said David Ellison, chairman and CEO of Paramount, a Skydance Corporation. 

David Zaslav, president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, said his company’s goal throughout the sale has been to maximize the value of the studio’s assets and century-old studio while ensuring certainty for investors. 

“We look forward to working with Paramount to complete this historic transaction,” he said. 

The deal completes a turn of events from earlier this week. Netflix had initially agreed to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery for $72 billion in equity, until Paramount raised its all-cash offer to $31 per share from $30 earlier in the week. It represented a better deal that Netflix ultimately decided not to match. 

The conglomeration will keep the studios separate while operating both. Paramount has agreed to release 30 theatrical films each year with a minimum 45-day window before the works are available via video-on-demand. 

Paramount now oversees 15,000 film titles, as well as thousands of hours of TV programming, including iconic franchises such as “Game of Thrones,” “Mission: Impossible,” “Harry Potter,” “Top Gun,” the DC Universe, “SpongeBob SquarePants,” and more. It also owns the rights to NFL games, the Olympics, UFC, and more across multiple platforms. Paramount recently signed a deal with “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, as well as UFC and Activision.

“The assets in Warner Bros. Discovery are so powerful,” Eric Clark, portfolio manager and CIO at Accuvest Global Advisors, said in an email to The Epoch Times.

Paramount recently published its fourth quarter results, noting that it expected 2026 revenues of $30 billion, with direct-to-consumer the main driver—a segment that grew 10 percent year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2025.