WBD

49ers4life71

A bunch of state AGs bonding together to try to stop this merger. Mark Ruffalo leading this boycott. Probably better to buy puts on $WBD. That’s what I’m going to do Monday. If deal goes through sure you’ll get your $3 profit per shares but you may need to wait a year or more. Not worth it. A good chance imo this deal doesn’t go through and $WBD gets 5.8 bil from $PSKY and goes it alone.

Happy_Discussion_536

There is no fucking way NFLX actually didn't pay a little bit more for WBD because it was too expensive. Sarandos was at White House the day they pulled out. Trump told him in no uncertain terms. Back the fuck down before it gets any worse for you. I own NFLX and I don't care that that it's green today. This was a loss today for NFLX and everyone.

Plappedudel

Then maybe Disney should have bought WBD so both companies could end up in the shitter. Netflix really dodged a bullet there.

BlackopsBaby

Yup. Netflix will be able to buy both Paramount and WBD using just this break-up fee a few years down the line.

KaramTNC

Originally 80 billion with a mix of cash and equity. Then they changed it to full cash. Yeah paramount really just burnt a lot of cash to get WBD. Its clear that WBD board just wanted an out and took the highest price instead of whoever would be best for the company.

colenotphil

Hey I mean WBD hurt the HBO name, but wait until PSKY tops that by forcing John Oliver to wear a red tie.

Forsaken_Taro_1259

I mean tbh I think even Netflix knew that black gay LGBTQ Batman wouldn't sell. So no need for DC. On a more serious note, WBD has a lot of debt and Netflix isn't exactly booming as it once was and it's not a content issue. Or at least that's the way I see it. You can have all the analysis you want but ultimately the crowd determines which is correct, or is there even one? The price just moves, it doesn't mean one analysis is right

ExtraSmooth

The simple version is you can take out a loan worth multiple times your collateral, and banks are more willing to loan money if they think what you plan to do with it is a good idea that will return the value of the loan over time. When you put a down payment on a house, you put down 20% and the bank covers the rest, believing that you will be able to pay the rest back with interest over a long period of time. In this case, Paramount is essentially putting themselves up as collateral as well as WBD. The effect is to create one joint entity that can be harvested for parts if it goes bankrupt. It doesn't really matter how big the buying company is as long as they can get a big enough loan with manageable terms. In this case, it seems like powerful people in and out of politics are putting their thumbs on the scale to help secure the deal, hoping that the political wins will justify the business shortfalls.

PatientHelicopter123

Can't wait for the WBD comments to go away... After I get paid.

novwhisky

Yeah but NFLX dropped below $95 on their acquisition announcement, so the only real catalyst for those calls to print was WBD paying them the 2.8B breakup fee.

IAmPandaRock

Own a multi-billion competing studio and bid up the price of WBD and get a nice little $3B breakup fee for your trouble.

MyotisX

Netflix wants to buy WBD : -40% Paramount buys WBD : +20% ???

904Funk

Meanwhile, my 500 shares(been holding this shit since 2022) I want the full $31 for, I am worried about the deal falling through and WBD stock falling like $5-10. Been pondering selling

katalysis

Imagine if the Paramount-WBD deal now falls apart due to regulatory hurdles, so at the end of it all this is just Paramount paying $2.8B to Netflix for nothing.

Comfortable_Yam_9391

Mergers and acquisitions have breakup fees if they don’t go through. As part of paramounts bid, they agreed to pay the breakup fee, since WBD and NFLX already agreed to a deal. Paramount bid 108B of Jared Kushner Saudi money and Larry Ellison Oracle OpenAI debt as a company of 12B market cap. In addition, since NFLX/WBD had to back out of their original deal, Paramount is paying the breakup fee, as an incentive to win the deal. Since they won the deal, they pay the breakup fee for the WBD/NFLX merger, and now have their own breakup fee for WBD/PSKY merger, which is 7B that PSKY owes to WBD, if their merger does not go through

CryptoBoy-007

Not really. I see this comment quite often and even Netflix hinted as to what it is. With Paramount, WBD is an asset they must have. For Netflix, its nice to have. Paramount instead of a stagnant company, struggling to grow is now the 3 largest streamer, and the proud owner of the most known content IP on earth... etc

iShitpostOnly69

WBD has an enterprise value of over $100B at current market price which i consider near $115B

lineskogans

WBD does not have an asset value anywhere near $115B. The only reason a company like Netflix or Paramount might pay near that is because of the market share forces that only they can exploit. If a lending institution liquidates WBD after a Paramount default, they would lose a huge portion. This deal only happens because the Saudi’s are enabling Ellison.

The-Real-Recruit

looks like you'd get cash, yeah. as of yesterday the WBD board flipped to paramount's $31/share all-cash offer as the "superior" proposal, so if that closes you're looking at roughly $744 hitting your account and your shares disappearing.

hermeskino715

Ah. I thought WBD had to pay the 7b. Thanks for clarifying

iShitpostOnly69

WBD is the collateral not Paramount

Tr0janSword

It is an LBO but not a classic one. It helps a lot when your dad will buy $45.7 bn of equity, which dilutes your other shareholders by 80%. Then, you can raise another $57.5 bn in debt, and while taking on a $10 bn of WBD debt.

Rabbt

Damn. I should have done bidding to acquire WBD so that I get paid out as well. I would have dipped out at measly 1 bil.

barbpatch

Paramount is paying Netflix the break up fee and Paramount has promised 7 billion to WBD if the merger fails somehow. They are extremely confident it will go through smoothly. That's the whole reason Netflix backed out and Paramount persisted so long in trying to one-up Netflix's bid while also not raising the price very much - Paramount had confidence in regulatory approval, and Sarandos got the cold shoulder from the White House when he tried to persuade them. People were saying Paramount needed to go $33+ to win and they got it at $31 plus a bunch of fees they only have to pay if it goes off the rails. It is a decisive win for Paramount as long as it goes through.

mettiusfufettius

Are they buying out existing shareholders? Or are they transferring their shares of WBD into shares of Paramount?

motionbutton

That was true for whoever bought WBD... Most would say Netflix is the lesser of two evils. Really neither deal should be allowed to go through. You will have a shit tone of layoffs with the Paramount merger, just because of the massive overlap in studios. The viewers and employees are the one who lose the most.

barbpatch

The shareholders didn't want them to take on such debt. People think Netflix will be able to buy both Paramount and WBD later. People also thought Netflix would for sure no question about it win the bidding war so... It's mostly copium here. Netflix is an expensive stock. A high volume stock. People are heavily invested and want it to succeed. I invested in Psky heavily myself because I saw this coming and we will see if I'm happy with my decision in a few years. I'm happy with today for Psky but because of the current narrative it's not politically OK for me to say that. 🙄

CryptoBoy-007

Is your EX WBD IP that can be put on the block, and get Paramount / Netflix get excited?!

Mix_Easy

Netflix has the last laugh 😁😆😅 will buyback dirt cheap once Paramount sell its. Piece by piece Either way, Netflix still wins, pocket changes of $2.85 Billion PAYOUT. We going see David Ellison pay the $7 billion plus Ticking fee to WBD Shareholders what he promises to them. If deals dose not close or approved by all the regularly 50 States by end this year.

DavidCaller69

It’s crazy how none of these comments speak to the real reason behind this. Ellison is overvaluing WBD and paying Netflix because the end goal is media consolidation for the benefit of the current admin, at any cost. Everyone acting like this is some raw deal really doesn’t grasp what is going on.

DrHarrisonLawrence

Needs to be said on all of these threads that Saudi money has an active interest in funding PSKY to maintain control of WBD’s side of the media. PSKY isn’t going bankrupt in the next 5 years, it’s going to be heavily owned by foreign investors

Blitzdog416

WBD has 45min to pump, $31 let's go!

Blitzdog416

WBD, my cheap $29 calls for today are very disappointed. It's a $31 stock FFS!

tootapple

I guess the market doesn’t think the deal will happen. Current price for WBD is ~28.21. There is still some arbitrage upside there

arbitraryBlue

NFLX really made PSKY pay more for WBD and then walked away with a cool $2.8b lol

ohgodthehorror95

So let me get this straight. PSKY is about to take on an obscene amount of debt, overpay for WBD, and will very likely bankrupt themselves from being hilariously overleveraged... and yet they're up 20+% today?

DickiesDippinDicks

The WBD / Paramount buyout will be one of the fastest approved deals of that size in history For all the worst reasons

OrangMiskin

NFLX back to $100 imminent without all this WBD booshit

Octodab

Can someone smarter than me explain how WBD stock can go down on news of the acquisition? Is it just fears that the deal may not go through?

greenpride32

Look at the long term trajectory of WBD stock - it goes nowhere. Look at long term chart of NFLX. For every grant of $100k, you hold it long term and it turns to $500k, $1m, $2m. That's how people in big tech get "rich".

Garbage-Disposal-938

NFLX gapped up since dropping bid for WBD. LOL

Bright_Albatross649

PSKY buying WBD is such a fucking retard move, netflix will probably buy them both in like 2035 or sumn

PickleRickleTV

While this admin is probably the most corrupt in history, what do you think that article says? They said the deal was off after WBD said Netflix needed to up their bid. Their stock price has hated this deal since the start. It makes complete sense why they would back out. Like what?

McKoijion

We're living in the most corrupt timeline. > Netflix CEO Sarandos visited White House right before streamer said WBD deal is off https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/netflix-ceo-sarandos-visited-white-house-right-before-streamer-said-wbd-deal-is-off/ar-AA1X9CNk https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/larry-ellison-trump-2020-call-b2084757.html

SatansLoLHelper

So I should sell my silver and buy WBD. Regards.

bsizzle13

Yep the Reddit hivemind is stupidly taking a victory lap on this. WBD is not gonna be available unless there’s a massive, multi-year recession that cuts Larry Ellison’s worth dramatically. And even then it may never become available. For everyone else who’d rather not live under conservative consolidation of another major media property, this is just a terrible outcome.

zg44

Paramount-WBD combo is going to have >$100bn in debt on the books and 80% of earnings of the combo comes from declining cable TV assets. This has bankruptcy written all over it in 10 years or at the first signs of economic distress.

zg44

Paramount-WBD combo is going to have >$100bn in debt on the books and 80% of earnings of the combo comes from declining cable TV assets. This has bankruptcy written all over it in 10 years or at the first signs of economic distress.

AntoniaFauci

Obviously the PSKY WBD NFLX drama will dominate. But the QURE and RGNX thing is so compelling, with actual life and death consequences. Market is saying RGNX is in the clear and QURE is finished but I’m taking the contrarian play.

d07wEQr5OSbWujQSIzZI

Bought some WBD yesterday. Where can I buy lambo for $200?

Meetdreys

Post-deal, the new Paramount-Skydance will inherit WBD’s ~$33B debt + the fresh $57B+ from the bid, so yeah, interest payments alone could eat billions yearly. Cash flow’s already thin from linear TV decline, and adding that $2.8B Netflix payout (licensing/settlement stuff) is a straight gut punch basically 15-20% of current market cap gone in one check. Budget restrictions are real: they’ll likely have to cut corners on big swings like the Harry Potter series (which needs massive VFX/marketing spend) or delay stuff to protect the balance sheet. Netflix, meanwhile, prints cash (~$7-8B FCF projected) and could’ve thrown real money at those IPs without blinking. It’s a classic “win the battle, lose the war” vibe Skydance gets the keys to the kingdom, but the kingdom might be crumbling under debt. Antitrust might slow it anyway, but if it closes, quality could take a noticeable hit for years.

seo-nerd-3000

Netflix probably ran the numbers and realized buying WBD means inheriting a mountain of debt and a bunch of aging IP that peaks at nostalgia. Smart to walk away. The best acquisitions are the ones you do not make.

zxc123zxc123

Fine I'll do it myself. 1. Skydance was the original company. It was created by **David Ellison** the son of **Larry Ellison** (remember this for later). 2. Skydance is a shitty old media company and doesn't have the money, earnings, or profits. Yet they managed to buy Paramount global from Sheri Redstone to make PSKY. 3. PSKY is also is a shitty old media company and doesn't have the money, earnings, or profits. But it looks like they will now get WBD too. 4. Not to what you retards are asking. *"How can they afford this?!?"* Answer: They can afford it because the nepobaby's dad **LARRY ELLISON** is rich. Not millionaire rich. Not billionaire rich. Not top Forbes Global 1000 rich. #[He's in the top 5 richest in the entire fucking world](https://www.forbes.com/billionaires/) He's also friends with Elon and Trump. The same Elon who bought Twitter not for the fucking *money* but for public influence, the ability to control the narrative, and the ability to sway elections. It's the reason why Trump and Elon are on the same page. And the same fucking reason why Ellison is trying to collect the old news networks. Rich people don't need to make more money like [POOR PEOPLE](https://old.reddit.com/r/wallstreetbets) since they are already rich. They want to preserve wealth, contain the masses, attain influence, and have political sway.

Meetdreys

it’s dilution for existing Paramount shareholders because the massive equity infusion ($45.7B from Ellison/RedBird etc.) means new shares or ownership stakes get issued to fund the deal, so current holders own a smaller slice of the bigger pie post-merger. Plus the debt pile now ~$57.5B committed from banks like BofA/Citi/Apollo loads the combined company with leverage risky if synergies flop or streaming keeps bleeding. The personal guarantee from Larry Ellison? It’s an irrevocable promise (legally binding) that he personally backs $43-45B of the equity portion if the deal needs more cash to close or there’s damages/breach claims against Paramount, Ellison’s on the hook out of his own pocket (not just the family trust). It was added to squash WBD board doubts about financing certainty back in Dec ’25. Basically, Larry’s putting his massive fortune where his son’s mouth is to make the bid bulletproof. High stakes family play.

Embarrassed-Sky6890

Let’s admit it. If Netflix bought WBD that would have been weird as shit.

ComprehensiveKiwi489

Interesting thesis, but I'm curious what stops every other AI / LLM from training their AI not just on WBD / Paramount content, but on every movie and show that has ever been created? It would be extremely difficult to have an explosion scene, or a nature scene, and then to pin it to a specific movie or show. Perhaps they are already in the process of doing that right now? Maybe they've already done all of this, but we don't know about it yet?

Meetdreys

the $45.7B (up from earlier figures) from the Ellison Trust is equity funding for the massive WBD takeover bid basically Larry’s cash injection to make the all-cash $31/share offer happen, backed by his personal guarantee. In return, post-deal (assuming it closes), the Ellison family ends up with major ownership in the combined Paramount Skydance empire: Larry controls a big chunk of the equity (around 26-37% depending on filings and cash elections, plus indirect through Skydance stakes), significant voting power (he had 27.5% voting rights in some updates), and his son David runs it as CEO/chairman with control. It’s family dynasty stuff Larry funds it, gets huge stake in Hollywood’s IP goldmine (Warner, Paramount, etc.), while David gets to steer the ship. High risk with all that debt, but massive upside if they turn it around.

Meetdreys

Yeah, it’s basically a massive leveraged buyout-style deal. Paramount Skydance is funding the $31/share all-cash offer ($111B total enterprise value) with • 45.7B equity from the Ellison Trust (Larry Ellison backing it hard, with personal guarantee) + RedBird and others. • 57.5B debt commitment from big banks like Bank of America, Citi, and Apollo (up from earlier amounts). No straight debt dilution like issuing new shares massively it’s heavy on borrowed money (bridge loans turning permanent), piling onto the combined company’s balance sheet (WBD already has $33B debt, so post-deal could hit $90B+ total). That’s why some call it risky AF huge leverage if synergies don’t hit or streaming keeps struggling. Ellison’s cash infusion helps, but yeah, debt is the star here. Smart or suicide?

Aggravating-Buy-1695

NFLX is going up because they walked away from the WBD deal just as I predicted LMAO 🤌

Embarrassed-Sky6890

Waiting for the # “NFLX is going up because they walked away from the WBD deal just as I predicted LMAO 🤌”

SatansLoLHelper

They made $2.9B today from Paramount. I should hope their stock goes up tomorrow. Also why wouldn't I buy WBD at $29, if Paramount is paying $31, + $0.25 per quarter after november? That is just free money, right?

rioferdy838

I find it hilarious that paramount is taking on $57b of debt alone to finance this deal ($108b total) AND also assuming WBD's existing $33.5 billion in debt. Paramount's current debt stands at around $15.5 billion, leading a total post-merger debt load approaching $110 billion. The profit from BOTH COMPANIES COMBINED won't even be enough to service the debt interest per annum. Fucking crazy. But I guess they got to do it for political reasons and to gain a larger share of the mainstream media control.

NoctRob

I sold WBD about 14 months ago. So this is all really frustrating and annoying. But I do own NFLX, so…it’s cool.

arcanition

I mean, it's not quite the same scale. Blockbuster's market cap peaked around $5B around 2004, declining to around $1.5-2B in 2005 and down to just $24M in 2010 before bankruptcy. Meanwhile, Netflix's market cap was already around $1.5B in 2004, climbing to $4-5B by 2010. So Netflix grew to around Blockbuster's peak market cap by the time Blockbuster went bankrupt. Today, Paramount has around 17% of the market cap of WBD and just 3% of the market cap of Netflix.

RogueStargun

Daddy Larry Ellison owns Oracle, is buddies with the administration, and was an early investor in Tesla and SpaceX. Furthermore the expectation is that WBD is cratering right now

Montyprice7206

Gonna submit a bid on WBD for $32 a share just to mess with everyone

Mister__Mediocre

Because the contracts are public? If the company goes bankrupt, Larry Ellison is forced to personally buy it for cheap. He has the money to pay for it, and he'll be happy to do it. AOL - Time Warner 2.0 caused fiscal ruin, but WBD is still around. It changed hands, didn't go away.

jawstrock

The entire 80B purchase price is in cash raised through debt, WBD holds 30B of debt that they will inherit and Paramount is leveraged to the tits as well. The debt will be 7x+ its entire ebitda. Paramount already has a shitty debt rating too.

No_Assistance5652

I think the main problem is Trump interfering with the Nflx deal. That’s a huge hindrance for nflx to come in again. But coming to Ellison, I don’t think he wanted to buy it from the start for such ridiculous price. It’s just too dumb to buy it on leverage. He knew this, that’s why he tried to sneak in revocable trust at first. He just wanted it to not go to nflx. Now he will try to delay it or trump will do something that will delay the deal. Delay it for 2 yrs until WBD just breaks the deal off so that he won’t have to pay the fee. Or may be pay the break up fee after like 2 yrs, by then WBD won’t be in a good shape at all. WBD already have a huge debt, they will go bankrupt in no time at all. All this play is to just delay it.

Victoria4DX

Don't count on it. The right wingers, Daddy Ellison and Middle East oil tycoons are bankrolling this new propaganda machine. They have infinite money to burn to keep Paramount WBD afloat. If they don't do it with their own fortunes they'll make sure the American taxpayer bails them out.

Mister__Mediocre

It's a bet, much like every other. The whole media ecosystem centered around WBD and Paramount is going relocate from AWS to OCI. Since they have clearly signaled that they're going to champion AI for Media, everything in this space is going to have to run on OCI. Oracle wins irrespective of whether they're the ones running the models or building them.

Victoria4DX

Wall Street is absolutely regarded and still thinks we are living in a thriving capitalist democracy and not a late stage capitalist banana republic for some reason. No, what's actually going to happen is that Paramount-WBD will be grown into a massive right wing propaganda operation backed by Daddy Ellison, Middle East oil tycoons and the American taxpayer. Too big to fail once again. They will ram through approval of this deal and when they struggle with the debt load Trump will announce something like the U.S. government has acquired a 10% stake and wipe away their debts.

Runningflame570

Larry Ellison is worth $200B give or take $50B depending on the date and they have other investors who are interested in owning a large portion of the US' cultural history. The combined PSKY/WBD entity does $60B a year in revenue and both sides are cashflow positive with the valuation difference largely being due to market narratives around their IP strength or lack thereof and WBD being the beneficiary of a bidding war. A lot will depend on maturities, but that kind of scale can gain them enormous financial flexibility.

JRshoe1997

If thats true thats actually insane. Currently WBD is trading around a 71 billion dollar market cap. Right now Paramount has a market cap of 12 billion. Even combined the total debt will be even larger than the total market cap which is insane. The company better hope that the AI bubble continues to rock on a bit longer. If we see the bubble pop and companies start scale back and as a result the economy starts to slow down they’re going to be in big trouble.

drakilian

How the actual fuck is WBD down on the news that they will be purchased for 31$ instead of $27.75 Market doesn't think the deal will pass? If so then why was it ever higher to begin with, if the only higher bid was one that the market did not consider plausible? Did the market think Netflix would match the PSKY bid? Class retard market retarding out

bevo_expat

I’m saying that federal regulators won’t bat an eye at the Paramount takeover of WBD because Larry Ellison obviously supports the current administration. If you think otherwise I can’t pull your head out of the sand for you.

GoldenPresidio

well they would be paying off WBD's debt and putting new debt in place

bshtein

And also a ton of comnents about "Israeli propaganda". Yes, that must be a reason for WBD sale. Illuminati at work here))) Now see us down-voted)))

Just_Note745

What baffles me even more is that Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has a market cap of $71B. How can a company acquire another company that’s nearly six times its own market cap?"

rem7

Didn’t they already sell it and WBD is renting it?

HappyDepartment5899

Is it possible for WBD to go back and accept Netflix offer or is this final with Paramount?

Cultural_Tomorrow438

Netflix has given up on WBD deal

bearhunter429

#Netflix getting $3 billion from WBD for doing nothing LMAO🤌

AutoCodes

Thank God they declined. I bought the 85 calls for April 17 at $10 about a week before they decided to make a deal with WBD, and the stupid stock went all the way down to almost nothing. I was down big, big, big time. Now I’m just hoping I can at least get my money back.

LimitlessMentally

There are over a billion shares of Oracle inside that trust. Larry doesn’t have 100B cash either to buy WBD.

herefromyoutube

What should I do with my WBD shares?

HazardousRhombus

If the drop from 120s was all because of the WBD acquisition, then I think it rebounds quickly. I’m hopeful it sees above $100 consistently by April.

BigWarning8696

NFLX is up because WBD is a shit company. No revenue growth. Missed last earnings by a lot. Projected 2027 PE of 350. They dodged a bullet

Elegant-Magician7322

Now Netflix can use that $82 billion in cash they bid for WBD to hire people to build new content. Plus another $2.8 billion from the breakup fee. Getting WB content was a nice to have. Even without it, Netflix was making much more money. HBO Max made $1.37 billion in 2025. Paramount+ made a modest $230 million. Netflix made $10.98 billion.

Fit-Stress3300

That is a giant pile of debt. That is 12x their current revenue or 6x with WBD. Can anyone explain to me how it is a good deal?

Creeper15877

This is just not true. If they just wanted CNN, they would've let Netflix acquire WBD then only bought the discovery spinoff company

OsamaBagHolding

Draco malfoy buys WBD!

ShadowLiberal

WBD has already been doing stuff like that from their massive debt. Including canceling already finished movies. That problem is going to get so much worse now, and there's going to be a ton of layoffs because of all the redundancies in their film studios. And the dumbest part about those upcoming layoffs is how Hollywood supported Paramount getting WBD, when Netflix would almost certainly not have laid them off based on everything we know.

ShadowLiberal

History has shown that acquisitions by smaller companies of much bigger ones virtually never workout long term. WBD is already struggling massively because they heavily overpaid for Warner Brothers. And the debt problems are going to become significantly worse now.

Mix_Easy

NETFLIX will reinvest that $2.85 billions money into their company and will double the interest in buyback WBD in rest Paramount, what is left. 😁🤣

Mix_Easy

NETFLIX will reinvest that $2.85 billions money into their company and will double the interest in buyback WBD in rest Paramount, what is left. 😁🤣

cheetles_plus

Bro I’m actually wheezing at this WBD is objectively worse less than 7 billion and Paramount is paying 10x fair value hahahaha

PatienceJust1927

Time to sell those WBD shares

TheGreatPiata

WBD were probably hoping Netflix would keep counter offering.

Big-Material2917

Ya they need the IP for future media like gaming and VR. If they really are abandoning WBD bid, Sony is pretty good bet. Not sure how difficult that would be given that it’s a Japanese company, but it’s the ideal option. Especially cause the next wave of IP is likely to center around gaming properties, and outside of Nintendo, Sony is pretty far and away the best option.