PSKY
WBD
The merger marathon just got longer
Paramount Skydance is still talking like a deal-maker with a caffeine problem: CEO David Ellison says he’s “highly confident” the Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition will close. But confidence doesn’t move a federal calendar, and a judge just set the antitrust trial for March 2, 2027.
Why investors should care
This is not just corporate drama for the Hollywood group chat. The longer the deal sits in legal purgatory, the more expensive it gets. Paramount could owe WBD shareholders about $7 million a day after Sept. 30 if the merger still isn’t finished, with the bill potentially blowing past $1 billion before anyone in a robe makes the final call.
Ellison’s pitch: bigger, louder, more content
Ellison’s op-ed tried to reframe the fight as a trust issue, not a competition issue — basically: “Are you worried about monopoly math, or whether I can be trusted with CNN?” He argued the combined company would help Hollywood compete against tech giants and boost output across film and TV.
And the numbers are very much doing the heavy lifting here:
- Paramount says it has already doubled its theatrical slate from 8 to 15 films.
- It’s greenlighting 40 new or returning Paramount+ series.
- It expects to make 30 theatrical films and 170 TV series a year after the merger.
- It’s also aiming to spend more than $30 billion a year on content.
Mixed quarter, mixed emotions
The courtroom news landed alongside Paramount’s second-quarter report, which was a bit of a two-step: revenue rose 1% to $6.91 billion and beat estimates, but profit came in light at $41 million, or 4 cents a share. Streaming was the bright spot, with Paramount+ adding 2 million subscribers to reach 81.6 million.
Big picture: Paramount is trying to sell Wall Street on a grand Hollywood comeback while the courts remind everyone that mergers don’t run on studio optimism alone.