WBD in talks to merge with Paramount (1 Viewer)

[GrandAdmiral]

So David Zaslav cut everything to the bone... only to spend more money that apparently they'll need money for...

It's unclear whether WBD would buy Paramount Global or its parent company, National Amusements Inc. (NAI), but a source familiar with the situation says that both options are on the table.

WBD is said to have hired bankers to explore the deal.

https://www.axios.com/2023/12/20/warner-bros-paramount-merger-discovery-streaming

 

[saintmdterps]

So David Zaslav cut everything to the bone... only to spend more money that apparently they'll need money for...

https://www.axios.com/2023/12/20/warner-bros-paramount-merger-discovery-streaming

Great. Media oligarchs consolidating their power. CNN and CBS News would combine to further restrict unbiased reporting. These mergers are sometimes a boon to shareholders, but never a boon to consumers.

**** on oligarchs.

 

[TheRealJRad]

So David Zaslav cut everything to the bone... only to spend more money that apparently they'll need money for...

https://www.axios.com/2023/12/20/warner-bros-paramount-merger-discovery-streaming

But won’t someone please think of the profits!

If they’re just going to consolidate and force streaming “packages”, we already tried that and it was called cable.

 

[Sun Wukong]

But won’t someone please think of the profits!

If they’re just going to consolidate and force streaming “packages”, we already tried that and it was called cable.

That is inevitable at this point. The individual streaming services are all albatrosses around their parent company's necks except for Netflix. Forced bundles are inevitable. Even Disney Plus has been a total clusterfork for Disney. They're not close to sustainable individually but they also can't afford to ditch them.

 

[Zztop]

after everything Zaslav has done to ruin the legacy of HBO by dumping all that discovery channel garbage onto it... I don't want them anywhere near paramount.

 

[Zztop]

Also, I recently learned of a new term: Enshittification

Enshittification - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die. I call this enshittification, and it is a seemingly inevitable consequence arising from the combination of the ease of changing how a platform allocates value, combined with the nature of a "two sided market", where a platform sits between buyers and sellers, hold each hostage to the other, raking off an ever-larger share of the value that passes between them

 

[GrandAdmiral]

Even Disney Plus has been a total clusterfork for Disney.

Yep. They're now putting Hulu on Disney+. They truly thought the grass was greener...

 

[Zztop]

Yep. They're now putting Hulu on Disney+. They truly thought the grass was greener...

I'm fairly certain it will be a dedicated area/button you go to, like how theres that row at the top (national geographic, star etc). Btw in other countries star is what we call hulu, so it has been incorporated for some time now (just not here in the US yet)

 

[antipop]

they killed HBO for this

 

[Zztop]

Newest rumor(s)

Another Media Company is Reportedly in Talks To Buy Paramount | Cord Cutters News

Skydance Media executives, led by CEO David Ellison, and other investors are discussing an “all-cash bid” to buy National Amusements, Paramount Global’s parent company, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal. National Amusements Currently, Paramount Global is controlled by...

cordcuttersnews.com

Paramount is Reportedly Going to Be Sold At Auction To The Highest Bidder | Cord Cutters News

Recently, we learned that Warner Bros. Discovery and Skydance Media are both in talks to buy a majority control of Paramount. Now, the New York Post has reported that Shari Redstone, the majority owner of Paramount, will sell her controlling stake of Paramount in an auction to the highest...

cordcuttersnews.com

 

[livefromDC]

they killed HBO for this

Which world are they going to create? The one imagined in the book or the movie one that ruined the book for me.

 

[Zztop]

latest news:

Paramount Global stock (PARA) jumped as much as 13.5% on Wednesday after Bloomberg reported media mogul Byron Allen made a $14.3 billion bid to buy all of Paramount's outstanding shares

 

[GrandAdmiral]

latest news:

Paramount Global stock (PARA) jumped as much as 13.5% on Wednesday after Bloomberg reported media mogul Byron Allen made a $14.3 billion bid to buy all of Paramount's outstanding shares

Dude be going hard with these bids. It took the Waltons to keep him from buying the Broncos.

 

[Doug B]

Dude be going hard with these bids. It took the Waltons to keep him from buying the Broncos.

I keep thinking of Byron Allen as first, second, and third a late-night TV host. And that wasn't that long ago ... 15 years give or take? He's certainly kicked major ace in business since then (although I'm sure he was already successful in business back during his hosting days, as well).

 

[Zztop]

Dude be going hard with these bids. It took the Waltons to keep him from buying the Broncos.

Seems like this isn't the first time he(and others) were offering to purchase part of paramount-owned assets. Paramount seemingly wanted to sell a portion of BET last year, but I guess decided against it for some reason.

Tyler Perry, Byron Allen, Sean 'Diddy' Combs lose out on bid for BET networks sale

Paramount Global decided against selling the majority stake of the BET Media Group, notifying bidders about its decision late Wednesday.

www.usatoday.com

Byron also wants (or wanted) to buy ABC studios/assets etc, (if) Disney ever decided to sell it, and made his offer public. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/disney-byron-allen-10-billion-offer-abc-fx-national-geographic/

I keep thinking of Byron Allen as first, second, and third a late-night TV host. And that wasn't that long ago ... 15 years give or take? He's certainly kicked major ace in business since then (although I'm sure he was already successful in business back during his hosting days, as well).

yeah, it is surreal to see where he is now. When I see his name, I read it as "Byrooonnnn Alllennnnn" b/c he had a tv show in.. late 80s(?) where he would interview celebrities, and he would announce his name like that.