Topline
Paramount Skydance will submit a bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in a proposal backed by the billionaire Ellison family, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, weeks after a multibillion-dollar merger closed between Skydance Media and Paramount.
A bid by Paramount Skydance—run by David Ellison, son of Oracle chairman Larry Ellison—will include Warner Bros. Discovery’s cable networks and movie studio, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.
Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery surged more than 26% to $15.89 shortly after the report, pacing what would be the stock’s largest single-day gain since shares of then-Warner Bros. opened trading in July 2005.
Paramount Skydance’s shares rallied more than 8.5%% to $16.42.
Neither Paramount nor Warner Bros. Discovery immediately responded to requests for comment from Forbes.
The David Ellison-led Skydance announced a merger with Paramount last year, following weeks of bidding for the company from suitors like Sony and Apollo Global Management. The deal was greenlit by the Trump administration in July, after Skydance said it would end some diversity, equity and inclusion considerations in hiring, promotions, development and compensation. Critics speculated approval from the Federal Communications Commission was delayed until Paramount settled a lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump, who alleged former Vice President Kamala Harris’ interview with “60 Minutes” was deceptively edited to boost Harris’ chances ahead of the 2024 election. Approval also followed Paramount’s CBS opting to cancel “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” whose host was a longtime critic of Trump, though CBS said the cancellation was based on finances.