{"id":309652,"date":"2026-03-02T17:14:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T17:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/309652\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T17:14:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T17:14:07","slug":"david-ellison-talks-warner-bros-in-first-comments-about-mega-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/309652\/","title":{"rendered":"David Ellison Talks Warner Bros in First Comments About Mega Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tDavid Ellison<\/a> wants to forge a modern media and entertainment empire, and Warner Bros. Discovery<\/a> will become its centerpiece.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe CEO of Paramount<\/a> on Monday spoke for the first time about the $110 billion megadeal, which will see the smaller company, backed by tens of billions from his father Larry Ellison and tens of billions in debt from a consortium of lenders, swallow the larger one.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe result will be a behemoth, with two major film studios (Paramount and Warner Bros.) a jumble of TV studios, two major streaming services in HBO Max and Paramount+, and a stable of TV channels that will include CBS, TNT, CNN, MTV, Nickelodeon, HGTV and many more that will make it a formidable player in the declining but lucrative pay-TV business. It will be a major sports player, and will combine two TV news giants in CNN and CBS.<\/p>\n

\n\tEllison outlined the deal as being about the future of the entertainment business. \u201cBy uniting our iconic studios complimentary streaming platforms with a global footprint, our cable and linear networks, and our world-class IP, we have the opportunity to help shape the future and build a next generation media and entertainment company. This has been our goal since day one,\u201d Ellison said Monday. \u201cThis is not about consolidation, it\u2019s about reinventing the business. We want to expand our reach and enhance our ability to create the world\u2019s most compelling stories and experiences. And we\u2019re incredibly excited about this transaction, and it will accelerate that ambition.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHollywood has been wary of the deal (just as it was wary of Netflix\u2019s deal) out of concern for jobs and production. Ellison sought to assuage at least some of those concerns Monday, reiterating that the company was not planning to pull back on film or TV production. And of particular note to the TV business, he promised continued support for HBO, telling analysts that \u201cHBO should stay HBO\u201d and praising Casey Bloys and his team.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHBO is a crown jewel in this business, having brought to life some of the most powerful stories told over generations,\u201d Ellison said. \u201cUnder our ownership, it will continue to have the resources and independence to do what it does best. At the same time, we believe in licensing our content to other platforms and producing third party content in our television studios, and we are committed to growing our studios and the popular shows they create.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat being said, Ellison confirmed that once the deal closes, the plan is to combine HBO Max and Paramount+ into one major streaming platform.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd he committed to 45-day theatrical windows, before sending films premium video on demand (PVOD), echoing commitments made by Netflix. Ellison, of course, is a fan of big theatrical films.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFranchises and big pieces of intellectual property are launched in theaters, period,\u201d Ellison said Monday. \u201cWe really believe that movies should be seen in theaters, and we still believe it\u2019s what that\u2019s one of the most significant places that you can really create long term resident intellectual property. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTelevision is a completely different business in that regard,\u201d he added. \u201cYou can obviously pierce the zeitgeist, and put huge hits up on the direct-to-consumer platforms. But when it comes to the DTC business, engagement is absolutely key to obviously, success there. So you have to look at what drives engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut there will be financial impacts, and those remain a source of indigestion for the town. The company will have approximately $79 billion of net debt, Paramount chief strategy officer Andy Gordon told analysts on the call, and the company is targeting $6 billion in cost savings and 3X leverage within three years of closing.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat will mean lots of jobs lost, though they took effort to say that the majority of the savings will not come from labor, and \u201cwe have no intention to pull back on on production,\u201d as Ellison said.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile the company may rationalize its real estate, Ellison and Gordon reiterated that they have no plans to sell any assets (no, not even cable channels) to try and deleverage.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLike at Paramount, believe in the assets we\u2019re buying,\u201d Gordon said.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd it was hard to ignore one other thing missing from Monday\u2019s Wall Street call: Jeff Shell, Paramount\u2019s president, who is being investigated <\/a>by an outside law firm in connection to a claim brought by a whistleblower who alleges that Shell shared confidential information with him related to the company\u2019s UFC deal. The call was instead led by Ellison, Gordon, and Paramount\u2019s CFO.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Ellison wants to forge a modern media and entertainment empire, and Warner Bros. Discovery will become its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":309653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[11948,156,111,139,69,421,437,3204],"class_list":{"0":"post-309652","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-david-ellison","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-paramount","14":"tag-tv","15":"tag-warner-bros-discovery"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}