The two large conglomerates that include television signals, film studios and streaming companies such as HBO Max are exploring the possibility of joining together to liquidate debts. If the agreement is closed, jobs would be reduced and the supply of content would decrease, in an increasingly concentrated market.
Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global, two of the largest conglomerates of news and entertainment companies in the world, began talks to explore the possibility of merging, US specialized media reported. The news, initially reported by the Axios site and confirmed by the portal Variety, says that Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) CEO David Zaslav and Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish met Tuesday in New York and discussed the potential of uniting all of their assets into a single brand. Zaslav was also in contact with Paramount Global president and major shareholder Shari Redstone.
Merger merger: In 2022, Warner Media joined Discovery Inc., creating Warner Bros. Discovery, the current owner of HBO Max.
Although the status of these talks is still very preliminary, specialists point out that they come at a time when both companies carry considerable debt (WBD about $43.5 billion and Paramount Global about $15.6 billion). The still hypothetical merger, in which Warner Bros. Discovery would absorb Paramount, would unite in a single catalog a wide range of television signals, film studios, important sports broadcasting rights and streaming. The result is that it would have a larger scale and greater operational efficiency, it would also combine the Max and Paramount+ platforms to compete with the giants of the segment, Netflix and Disney+.
If the merger moves forward, it would become the latest case in a market that in recent years has concentrated the entertainment industry in fewer and fewer hands. In fact, Warner Bros. Discovery is the result of the merger last year of WarnerMedia and Discovery Inc., and Paramount Global was born after the 2019 merger of Viacom and CBS Corporation. One of the most immediate consequences would be the drastic reduction in jobs, with the obvious contraction in the supply of content, consolidating the trend of recent years that led, in 2023, to one of the most significant strikes of the unions that participate in the activity, such as that of Hollywood screenwriters and actors.
2023-12-22 19:43:18
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