The shareholders’ meeting of entertainment giant Warner Bros Discovery approved this Thursday the purchase by fellow American Paramount Skydance for 110 billion dollars. Despite the strong opposition the operation has aroused in Hollywood, it has gone ahead with overwhelming support from its owners.
The board’s green light paves the way for Paramount to acquire Warner Bros and take over the company’s assets, which include the HBO Max streaming platform, the DC comic universe, and television networks CNN, TBS, TNT, HGTV, and Discovery+.
Paramount agreed to buy Warner Bros in February, beating streaming platform Netflix in the bidding war after several months of offers. According to Bloomberg, shareholders will receive $31 in cash for each Warner Bros common share once the deal is finalized. Even so, the operation must face antitrust regulations in several jurisdictions, such as the United States and the European Union. If the deal is not closed by September 30, shareholders will receive 25 cents per share for each quarter that passes. Both companies are confident that this will happen in the third quarter of 2026.
Shareholders will receive $31 in cash for each Warner Bros common share they own
On the other hand, shareholders also voted against the compensation package for Warner Bros CEO David Zaslav. Advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services had urged them to reject this measure, which accelerated the delivery of shares worth over $500 million and included $335 million in potential tax reimbursements, calling it “one of the largest severance packages ever seen.”
Recently, some 2,000 Hollywood artists, including actors Javier Bardem, Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, and Glenn Close, signed a letter expressing their rejection of the merger between Paramount and Warner. The signatories denounce that the operation will harm an already struggling entertainment industry, leading to “fewer opportunities for creators, less employment in the production ecosystem, higher costs, and fewer options for the public” both in the United States and globally.
The deal has also been scrutinized by politicians, including Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren, who in February described the deal as “an antitrust disaster that threatens higher prices and fewer choices for American families.” As Bloomberg recalls, if regulators end up blocking the deal, Paramount will have to pay a fine of $7 billion. The corporation already paid Netflix $2.8 billion in compensation on behalf of Warner Bros after the latter withdrew from the deal with the streaming platform.
Paramount Skydance President and CEO David Ellison has emphasized his commitment to increasing film production, noting that he plans to create at least 30 films a year after the merger. He also stated that the company will release all its films in theaters and keep them exclusively there for at least 45 days.
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