Shareholders of Warner Bros. Discovery voted Thursday to approve the sale of the entire company to Paramount Skydance. The deal values the buyout at $81 billion. It reaches nearly $111 billion when debt is included. This vote marks a big step forward for the merger. It still needs approval from regulators before it can close. If it goes through, the combination would create one of the largest media companies in the world. It would bring together two major studios and reshape how Americans watch movies, shows and news.
Paramount Skydance already owns CBS and hit films like Top Gun. Warner Bros. Discovery brings HBO Max, CNN and a deep library of content. Company leaders plan to merge HBO Max with Paramount+ into a single streaming service. They also own Discovery+ and plan to combine that too.
The deal follows months of bidding. Netflix and Comcast made offers at first. Paramount Skydance came out on top. More than 3,000 Hollywood insiders spoke out against the sale. Still, Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders backed it in overwhelming numbers. Paramount Skydance bought Paramount just last year. David Ellison serves as its CEO. He has pushed hard to close this deal. Insiders told The Hollywood Reporter the shareholder support felt strong.
The new company would control a huge amount of television. It would own CNN and CBS along with TNT, TBS, HGTV, MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central. Fans wonder how the merger will change shows like The Pitt, Game of Thrones and Sex and the City on HBO Max. Warner Bros. Discovery also owns DC Studios and films such as Harry Potter, Sinners, Barbie and Superman. Paramount brings Titanic, The Godfather and Yellowstone.
Streaming numbers show the power shift. HBO Max held about 12 percent of on-demand subscriptions in the United States during the first three months of this year. Paramount+ held 3 percent. Together they would still trail Prime Video at 17 percent and Netflix at 19 percent. Disney leads with 27 percent through Hulu and Disney+.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav called the vote a key milestone. He said it would deliver real value to stockholders. Zaslav added that his team turned the company around over four years and returned it to industry leadership. He will leave with stock payouts worth up to $886 million. Zaslav told shareholders the deal would create a leading next-generation media and entertainment company. He promised to work with Paramount to finish the remaining steps.
Critics point to real risks. The merger would leave consumers with fewer streaming choices. Subscription prices have already climbed for years. Some worry the bigger company could push prices even higher. Ellison has promised to release at least 30 feature films in theaters each year from the combined studios. He says streaming programs will keep getting investment. Industry watchers question those goals because the deal piles on heavy debt.
Lawmakers have raised national security flags. Gulf States put money into the deal through sovereign wealth funds. The investment carries no voting rights, but some fear it could quietly shape news coverage at CBS and CNN. State attorneys general oppose the merger on antitrust grounds. The acting head of the Justice Department antitrust division said the review would stay non-political. Skeptics remember that regulators approved Skydance’s purchase of Paramount weeks after the company paid President Trump $16 million to settle a lawsuit over editing on CBS’s 60 Minutes.
The president has kept up his public criticism of 60 Minutes since then. The merger would also hand Paramount even more cable networks, including Discovery, Food Network, Cartoon Network and Animal Planet. Paramount already runs Pluto TV and BET+ in addition to its other channels. The broader media world now waits on regulators to decide if this level of control helps or hurts everyday viewers.
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