Hollywood’s biggest media story of 2026 just became official. Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery have formally confirmed a $110 billion merger, with Paramount acquiring WBD at $31 per share in an all-cash deal that will reshape the entertainment industry for decades to come.
The announcement arrived Friday, February 27, capping a months-long saga that saw Paramount beat out a competing bid from Netflix. WBD had been in talks with Netflix before declaring it had received a “Superior Proposal” from Paramount, the David Ellison-led company that took control of Paramount through the Skydance merger. Netflix was given four days to match the offer but walked away immediately, handing Paramount an outright win.
The deal is backed by $47 billion in equity from the Ellison family and RedBird Capital Partners, with the remainder funded by $54 billion in debt commitments from Bank of America, Citigroup, and Apollo. New Class B Paramount shares will be issued at $16.02 each to fund part of the equity side. Previous backers cited in Paramount’s earlier hostile takeover attempt included sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar, though Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners and China’s Tencent both withdrew from participation.
The combined company will be an entertainment colossus. Its film library alone will span more than 15,000 titles, covering franchises like Harry Potter, Mission: Impossible, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, the DC Universe, Transformers, Star Trek, and SpongeBob SquarePants. On the sports side, the merged entity will hold rights to the NFL, Olympics, UFC, PGA Tour, NHL, Big Ten and Big 12 football, NCAA college basketball, and the UEFA Champions League, a portfolio with enormous leverage across both traditional cable and streaming platforms.
Paramount has committed to maintaining a robust theatrical slate, promising a minimum of 30 films annually (15 per studio), each receiving a full theatrical release with at minimum a 45-day exclusive window globally before moving to home video and then streaming. That commitment directly addresses concerns from theater owners and industry insiders who had been wary of Netflix’s approach to theatrical distribution.
The deal is expected to generate over $6 billion in cost synergies, drawn from consolidating streaming technology, merging enterprise systems, cutting redundant real estate, and streamlining procurement. Industry observers widely expect thousands of layoffs as a consequence of those efficiencies.
The merged company will also inherit a sweeping cable and international portfolio, including CNN, a detail already drawing scrutiny from lawmakers and media watchers given the editorial shifts at CBS News since Ellison took over Paramount. WBD’s former Discovery Communications footprint spans more than 200 countries and territories across cable and free-to-air networks, adding significant global reach to the combined entity.
Paramount CEO David Ellison, son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, framed the deal as a technology-driven transformation. “By bringing together these world-class studios, our complementary streaming platforms, and the extraordinary talent behind them, we will create even greater value for audiences, partners and shareholders,” Ellison said in a statement. WBD CEO David Zaslav added that the outcome maximized value for WBD shareholders while securing as much certainty as possible for investors.
The merger is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, pending regulatory approval and a WBD shareholder vote anticipated in early spring. Paramount will hold a conference call and webcast on Monday, March 2 at 8:30 a.m. ET to discuss the deal in greater detail.
Wall Street has already flagged the enormous debt load the combined company will carry as a potential constraint on future investment, a tension that will define whether the new media giant can deliver on Ellison’s vision of a next-generation entertainment powerhouse.
