Paramount Skydance reportedly readying offer to buy all of Warner Bros. Discovery

Newly merged Paramount Skydance Corp. is preparing to offer to buy Warner Bros. Discovery.

News of the potential offer, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, but not confirmed by either company, will reportedly propose Paramount acquiring all of WBD. 

WBD has been preparing to split into two companies but Paramount’s offer would presumably cancel that plan or see it buying both parts.

It was not clear how much Paramount might offer WBD, though a source did tell the WSJ that it would be a “majority cash” deal.

Shares of WBD jumped on Wall Street Sept. 11, 2025, after the WSJ’s first report of a potential offer.

The Journal also reported that the move to snap up WBD has the blessing of Larry Ellison, the father of David Ellison. David Ellison is chairman and CEO of the new Paramount Skydance, which was created in July 2025 after David Ellison’s Skydance Media bought Paramount’s parent company, National Amusements.

Larry Ellison, meanwhile, holds a majority stake, through a complex structure, of NAI and, in turn, Paramount Skydance.

The Ellison family offered up around $6 billion to complete the transaction, with another $2 billion coming from RedBird Capital Partners. The family also controls voting control of the new company.

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Meanwhile, David Ellison has announced the new company will cut up to 3,000 jobs as part of an effort to save $2 billion. 

Separate reports have indicated that Oracle, which was founded by Larry Ellison and made him one of the first tech billionaires, is preparing to close an enterprise contract with Paramount Skydance worth around $100 million a year, though no formal announcement has been made.

If Paramount were to acquire WBD, it would create a massive media empire that could potentially put CBS under the same umbrella as CNN, Food Network and HGTV. Paramount also owns local TV stations in major markets across the country and both companies operate a major streaming platform.

It’s not clear what regulatory hurdles such a deal might face, though Paramount’s merger was given the green light shortly after David Ellison pledged that the new company would drop its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, report news representing a broader range of political ideologies and appoint an ombudsman for CBS News, which many saw as a concession to Donald Trump’s administration, which had targeted CBS’s local TV licenses as part of an FCC investigation.

In the time leading up to the merger, Paramount also agreed to contribute $16 million to Trump’s future library project as well as cover his legal bills to settle a $20 billion lawsuit over alleged “deceptive” editing of a “Face the Nation” interview with former Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris in October 2024. This move was also seen as a way to help nudge the merger along.

Overall, the Trump administration has expressed interest in loosening regulations in a variety of areas, which could lay the groundwork for more massive conglomerates being formed as companies worth billions of dollars combine. This could lead to a core group of ultra-wealthy individuals controlling much of the media market and beyond.