It has been a little over a year since Paramount Skydance began its acquisition of one of the most iconic institutions in Hollywood.
After multiple rejections, followed by a bidding war, a series of regulatory approvals, an antitrust challenge filed by the state attorney general, and a timely settlement, the company led by David Ellison is set to complete the acquisition of Warner Bros.Discovery on Tuesday.
The merged company – which will become one of the largest media conglomerates in history – will be renamed Skydance and will trade under the stock code “SKYD”. It will bring together two of the most legendary film studios and will control nearly one-third of the basic cable television programming.
The following is the key timeline during the process of Paramount striving to acquire WBD:
Foundation Laying
June 9, 2025: Warner Bros and Discovery announced plans to split into two listed companies: one for streaming media and production, and another for a global network. The plan to separate the film assets and streaming platform of WBD from its cable television channels comes amid media companies' efforts to cope with declining linear viewership and the widespread shift to streaming media, while still maintaining profitability.
August 7, 2025: Paramount completed the long-awaited merger with Skydance. Skydance was founded by Ellison; Ellison is a technology executive and also the son of Oracle, one of the co-founders of Larry Ellison. Within a few days, the newly appointed CEO David Ellison acquired the multi-year copyright of UFC from TKO Group for $7.7 billion. Less than a month later, Ellison obtained the rights to produce a film based on the "Call of Duty" video game series and signed a multi-year agreement with the creator of "Stranger Things," Duffer Brothers. In a letter to shareholders, Ellison outlined that these investments are in line with his plan to "define the next era of the entertainment industry."
Intensifying Competition
September 11, 2025: CNBC reported that Paramount is preparing to make an acquisition bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. On the day of the announcement, the stock prices of both companies rose, with WBD's stock price achieving its best single-day performance at that time.
Late September to early October 2025: Warner Bros and Discovery rejected three acquisition proposals made by Paramount Skydance. At that time, CNBC reported that Paramount's third bid was slightly below $24 per share, with 80% of the payment in cash. On October 13, Paramount stated in a letter to the board of directors of WBD that its bid offered "better value" for shareholders compared to the plan to split the company into two independent entities.
October 21, 2025: Warner Bros and Discovery indicate that they are open to selling after receiving "unsolicited interest" from multiple parties. CNBC reports that Netflix and Comcast are among the interested bidders. WBD states that while conducting a "strategic assessment," they will continue to advance the split-up plan.
Mid-November 2025: Comcast, Netflix, and Paramount officially submitted their acquisition bids for Warner Bros. Comcast and Netflix's bids are aimed at the company's film and streaming media assets, namely Warner Bros (the film studio) and HBO Max. Paramount Skydance's bid, on the other hand, is for the entire WBD, including its linear television network.
Transaction Execution
December 5, 2025: Netflix announced that an agreement has been reached to acquire the film and streaming media assets of Warner Bros and Discovery. The transaction is valued at nearly $83 billion based on enterprise value. WBD stated that it will spin off the television networks, including TNT and CNN, to establish Discovery Global, which is in line with the plan announced in June. Before the official announcement of the transaction, lawyers from Paramount Skydance sent a letter to WBD's CEO, David Zaslav, questioning the "fairness and adequacy" of the sale process and accusing WBD of being biased in favor of Netflix.
December 8, 2025: Paramount Skydance initiates a hostile takeover of Warner Bros and Discovery, attempting to overthrow the Netflix protocol. Paramount announces that it will make a full-cash offer of $30 per share directly to the shareholders of WBD. When announcing the Paramount plan, Ellison stated regarding CNBC's Squawk on the Street: "We are truly here to complete what we started. We have brought this company to market."
January 7, 2026: Warner Bros and Discovery once again rejected the bid from Paramount, and increased their support for transactions with Netflix. Despite promising at the end of December that billionaire Larry Ellison would provide financing support for the transaction with Paramount-WBD, the board of directors of WBD still unanimously advised shareholders to reject the acquisition offer from Paramount.
January 12, 2026: Paramount filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros, Discovery, and Zaslav. The lawsuit requests the court to order WBD to provide more transparent information regarding why the company decided to reach an agreement with Netflix rather than cooperate with Paramount.
January 20, 2026: Netflix has revised its quotation for WBD assets, changing it to a cash-only transaction. The new quotation will allow Netflix to acquire WBD at $27.75 per share, in the form of cash rather than a combination of cash and stocks.
February 10, 2026: While maintaining the December cash offering of $30 per share for Paramount, additional incentives have been added for the WBD transaction. The new offering includes an "incremental fee" that will be paid to the shareholders of WBD if the Paramount-WBD transaction is delayed due to waiting for regulatory approval. The offering also includes an agreement: if the transaction with Netflix is not completed, Paramount will bear the $2.8 billion breakup fee that should be paid to Netflix.
February 17, 2026: Netflix grants WBD a seven-day exemption to reinitiate trade negotiations with Paramount.
February 24, 2026: WBD indicates that Paramount has raised its quote to $31 per share in cash.
February 26, 2026: After the company did not choose to match the bid of $31 per share offered by Paramount, the transaction for Netflix to acquire Warner Bros Discovery fell through.
February 27, 2026: After Netflix withdrew, the path became clear, and Paramount Skydance signed a final merger agreement with Warner Bros and Discovery.
April 23, 2026: Shareholders of Discovery approved the acquisition of that company by Paramount.
Strive for regulatory approval
June 12, 2026: The U.S. Department of Justice approved the merger of Paramount-WBD, which is a key step for the transaction to receive comprehensive regulatory approval. Based on enterprise value, the transaction is valued at approximately $110 billion.
July 13, 2026: A group of state attorneys general, led by the Attorney General of California Rob Bonta, filed a lawsuit in an attempt to block the merger due to antitrust concerns. The lawsuit alleges that if the merger proceeds, it could lead to increased prices and a decline in content quality.
July 22, 2026: The EU antitrust regulator approved the acquisition of WBD by Paramount, which represents a major victory for Paramount at the global regulatory level. The approval came with certain concessions: Paramount agreed to divest its stake in European United International Films and pledged not to sign any film distribution agreements with Universal in Europe for a period of 10 years.
July 24, 2026: Paramount agreed to extend the delivery date to no later than June 2027, despite the fact that the transaction was already facing a temporary restriction order. The threat of a prolonged delay caused WBD to take a wait-and-see approach, and it also had a brief chilling effect on the broader media mergers and acquisitions market.
September 21, 2026: Paramount reached a settlement with the State Attorney General, allowing the merger between these two media giants to continue forward. At this time, there were less than two weeks left until the increased fees took effect and drove up transaction prices. The settlement agreement included a series of terms regarding the number of theatrical films the merged company would release each year, as well as the budget required for these films.
Approaching the finish line
September 30, 2026: With the last obstacle overcome, Paramount announced that the departing Chief Executive Officer, Mattel Ynon Kreiz, will co-serve as the Joint Chief Executives of the merged company with Ellison. During Mattel's tenure, Kreiz was known for his ability to turn things around and led this toy manufacturer into the entertainment industry, enabling "Barbie" to hit the big screen in 2023.
October 2, 2026: Ellison announced that the merged company will be named Skydance after the completion of the merger, and stated that this move will allow Paramount and Warner Bros to continue to maintain their independent brands.
October 5, 2026: Ellison and Kreiz announced their leadership teams, which include the heads of news operations, Bari Weiss and Mark Thompson, responsible for CBS and CNN respectively; content leaders Casey Bloys, George Cheeks, and JB Perrette will oversee the streaming media and television businesses. According to CNBC, CBS Sports's leader, David Berson, will take over Skydance's global sports department.
CNBC's Julia Boorstin, David Faber, Lillian Rizzo, Sara Salinas, Alex Sherman, and Sarah Whitten have contributed to this report.
