Warner-Paramount Mega-Deal: Eighty-One Billion Merger

0:00It's April 23rd. From your city to your ears, this is Calgary News today, powered by AI. I'm Corey with The Story. Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders just gave a massive thumbs up to selling the whole company to Paramount. Overwhelming majority voted yes on Thursday for $31 a share, putting the equity value at $81 billion or nearly one, $111 billion with debt. His mega deal could merge HBO Max, Harry Potter franchises, and CNN with CBS, Top Gun and Paramount Plus. Earlier this year, it was a while bidding war. Warner first leaned toward a $72 billion deal with Netflix for studios and streaming. But Paramount, backed by Skydance, went hostile, offered more cash, and Netflix backed out. Now Warner's board is all in. Hollywood pros are pushing back hard. Thousands of actors, directors and writers signed a letter saying the merger means job cuts and less choice for creators and viewers. Lawmakers are raising flags too, about combining two big studios, news networks, and streamers.

1:06Meanwhile, regulatory reviews from the Justice Department are still pending with closure eyed for the third fiscal quarter. Exex promise bigger content libraries, a 45-day theater window, and 30 movies a year, keeping Paramount and Warner as separate ops. Political whispers swirl around Trump ties to the Ellison family and foreign funds from Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Qatar pitching in cash without votes. This combo could redefine media, blending giants for more firepower against streamers, but watch for those anti-trust hurdles shaking out the final. Play.