Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav and Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish met on Wednesday in order to discuss a potential deal between the two companies, news agency Reuters quoted a source as saying.
The rumours of a possible merger were first stated by Axios, citing multiple sources. Axios also reported that Zaslav had a talk with Shari Redstone, who owns Paramount's parent company, about a deal. The report further added that the meeting between Zaslav and Bakish lasted several hours.
While it is still unknown if Warner Bros is keen to buy Paramount Global or its parent company, National Amusements Inc (NAI), Axios mentioned that both options were on the table. Meanwhile, when Reuters reached out to the two media conglomerates for a comment, both Warner Bros and Paramount did not immediately respond.
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For those caught unaware, Paramount is controlled by the Shari Redstone-led media company and it owns 77% of Paramount's Class A voting shares.
Nonetheless, the discussion of a merger between Warner Bros and Paramount is still in an early stage, and might or might not result in a deal, according to the Axios report.
In April last year, AT&T's WarnerMedia unit and Discovery were joined together to become Warner Bros Discovery. The fresh portfolio included Discovery Channel, Warner Bros. Entertainment, CNN, HBO, Cartoon Network; streaming services Discovery+ and HBO Max, apart from the franchises such as ‘Batman’ and ‘Harry Potter’.
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Earlier on Wednesday, Bloomberg News mentioned in a report that Paramount was also in talks to sell its Black Entertainment Television network to a management-led investor group. Also, multiple reports have suggested the takeover interest in Paramount, which has a market cap of $10.5 billion along with a long-term debt of about $15.6 billion.
As for the market, Warner Bros shares closed about 6% lower on Wednesday. On the other hand, Paramount shares fell about 2%. Now if this media merger happens or is shelved, still remains to be seen.
