Paramount CEO David Ellison said the company doesn’t comment on rumors amid ongoing and intense merger speculation around Warner Bros. Discovery.
“First and foremost, we are focused on what we are building at Paramount and today, 96 days in, we are more confident than ever,” he said on a call with analysts after quarterly earnings – the first since his Skydance acquired Paramount Global. He was asked to comment on how the company looks at M&A in general.
“I think it’s important to note that we really look at this as ‘buy versus build’ and we absolutely have the ability to build,” in content, in streaming, in long-term cash flow generation. That said, “we are fortunate that we have the balance sheet to be able to be opportunistic when we think M&A will accelerate our goals.” But again, “we are also long-term, disciplined owner-operators” focused on shareholder value.
Skydance and Paramount closed their merger August 7, after which Ellison quickly turned his attention to Warner Bros. Discovery, a much bigger target. He’s aggressively pursued an acquisition of the media giant run by David Zaslav with at least three escalating offers, the last for $23.50 a share. All were rejected as WBD formally put itself on the block, opening up the sale process to other bidders. Netflix, Comcast and Amazon MGM have been circling. Netflix and Comcast hired bankers to explore a purchase of the Warner Bros. Studios and streaming assets.
Zaslav last week cited “an active process” underway, He initially said the company had received expressions of interest from multiple parties. There’s a data room for potential suitors to examine WBD’s books. It’s not clear if other concrete offers have emerged. Ellison has not wanted to go much higher but his father and main backer Larry Ellison, the Oracle co-founder, is one of the world’s two richest people so it’s certainly possible and likely that he will.
Warner Bros. Discovery had been planning to split into two separate public companies – studios & streaming, and global linear networks — next year and Ellison’s offer sought to head off that move. Zaslav has said WBD will consider a sale of all or parts of the company.
He also declined to address the Warner Bros. Discovery situation when asked at a conference last month but did indicate then that he thinks the industry needs to consolidate and promised anxious Hollywood talent that any deal he did would grow the pie, not shrink it.
