You’ve probably seen the headlines: Paramount and Skydance are officially one. After a year of "will they, won't they" drama that made Mission: Impossible look like a calm stroll in the park, the deal finally closed on August 7, 2025. David Ellison is the boss now, sitting in the big chair as Chairman and CEO of the newly minted Paramount Skydance Corporation (PSKY).
But if you thought the ink drying meant the chaos was over, you haven't been paying attention to the latest Paramount Skydance merger news.
Instead of just fixing Paramount+, Ellison has spent the start of 2026 launching a massive, hostile $30-per-share all-cash takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). It’s a bold move. Maybe even a little crazy. He’s essentially trying to cockblock a separate merger between Netflix and WBD, and the legal filings are flying faster than Tom Cruise off a cliff.
What’s Actually Happening with the WBD Hostile Takeover?
Basically, Paramount Skydance is trying to prove it’s the "big dog" of the legacy media world. On January 7, 2026, the Warner Bros. Discovery board told their shareholders to basically ignore Ellison’s offer. They called it "inferior" compared to a deal they already have on the table with Netflix.
Wait, Netflix? Yeah. Netflix wants the WBD studio and streaming assets for about $83 billion.
But Ellison isn't backing down. He’s arguing that his $30 all-cash offer is way better than Netflix’s cash-and-stock combo, which he claims is only worth about $27.42 right now because Netflix's stock has been wobbling. To make it even more intense, Ellison’s dad—Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison—has personally guaranteed the equity portion of the financing. When your dad is one of the richest men on Earth, "fully financed" carries a lot of weight.
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- The Price Tag: Paramount is offering $30.00 cold, hard cash per share.
- The Conflict: WBD is worried about the $94.65 billion in debt PSKY would have to take on.
- The Courtroom: A Delaware judge recently refused to fast-track a lawsuit Paramount filed against WBD, saying there wasn't enough "irreparable harm" to justify skipping the line.
It's a mess. Honestly, it's the kind of corporate warfare that usually stays behind closed doors, but it’s playing out in SEC filings and public letters to shareholders.
Why the Original Paramount Skydance Merger Matters Now
To understand why they're being so aggressive with WBD, you have to look at how the original Paramount Skydance merger went down last summer. It wasn't just a business deal; it was a political circus.
To get the FCC to approve the merger in July 2025, Paramount had to play ball with the Trump administration. They paid a $16 million settlement over a "60 Minutes" lawsuit involving Kamala Harris and even agreed to hire a "news ombudsman" at CBS to watch for bias. They even let go of Stephen Colbert’s contract after he made one too many jokes about the settlement being a bribe.
David Ellison is clearly building a "New Paramount" that looks very different from the old one. He’s ditching the "woke" label, explicitly stating the company won’t have DEI initiatives, and leaning into a "tech-forward" approach powered by Oracle’s cloud.
The Ellison Playbook for 2026
Ellison’s vision is simple: turn a movie studio into a tech company. He wants to consolidate Paramount+ and Pluto TV onto a single "tech stack" by the end of this year. He’s also talking about "Studio in the Cloud" workflows that use AI to localize shows into different languages overnight.
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He’s already met with the big hitters. Taylor Sheridan and Tyler Perry are still the crown jewels of the lot. South Park is safe. But everything else? It’s under the microscope. There are even rumors that National Amusements' movie theaters (the Showcase Cinemas) might be on the chopping block to help pay down the mountain of debt.
Is This the End of Streaming as We Know It?
If Ellison manages to snag Warner Bros. Discovery, he’d control HBO, CNN, DC Studios, and the Paramount library. That’s a terrifying amount of content for any competitor.
But there’s a massive catch. WBD’s board thinks the PSKY offer is a "leveraged buyout" (LBO) on steroids. They’re worried that if the deal fails to close, WBD shareholders will be left holding the bag for a company that’s been hamstrung by 18 months of regulatory limbo.
And let’s be real: regulators in Europe are already skeptical. Ellison has been spotted in London and Paris lately, trying to convince the UK Culture Secretary and even Emmanuel Macron that a Paramount-WBD-Skydance titan is better for the "theatrical experience" than a Netflix-owned studio.
Why You Should Care
If you're a subscriber or a shareholder, this is huge.
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- Content Consolidation: Your Paramount+ subscription might soon include Max (HBO) content if this hostile bid works.
- Stock Volatility: PSKY and WBD are going to be a rollercoaster for the next six months.
- Theatrical vs. Streaming: Ellison is a "theatre first" guy. Netflix is "streaming first." The winner of this fight decides if the next Batman or Top Gun goes to the cinema or your iPad.
What’s Next for Paramount Skydance?
The immediate hurdle is January 21, 2026. That’s when Paramount’s current tender offer is set to expire, though everyone expects them to extend it. The "advance notice" window for WBD’s annual meeting opens in a few weeks, and Paramount is already preparing to nominate its own slate of directors to forcibly take over the WBD board.
It’s a scorched-earth strategy.
If you’re watching this play out, keep an eye on the Delaware Chancery Court. That’s where the real fight is happening. While the headlines focus on the billions of dollars, the actual outcome depends on whether a judge forces WBD to open its books and show exactly why they think Netflix is a better partner than the Ellison family.
Actionable Insights for the Week Ahead:
- Watch the WBD Share Price: If it stays well below $30, the market is betting the merger won't happen. If it creeps up, investors are starting to believe Ellison can pull it off.
- Check your Streaming Bills: Consolidation usually leads to price hikes. If PSKY and WBD merge, expect a "super-service" that costs significantly more than $15 a month.
- Monitor SEC Form 14D-9: This is where WBD will officially document their reasons for rejection. It’s dense, but it contains the real dirt on why they're scared of Skydance's debt.