WBD and Paramount are reportedly in merger talks
WBD and Paramount are reportedly in merger talks in todays Wrestling news
The TV rights of AEW with WBD expire in 2024.
A new report out Wednesday has Warner Bros. Discovery & Paramount discussing a corporate merger between the two entertainment entities.
Axios reported that WBD CEO David Zaslav and Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish met Tuesday to discuss the matter over several hours that included how the two could compliment each other.
As pointed out in the article, WBD’s market cap is currently $29 billion while Paramount sits at just over $10 billion. WBD has reportedly hired bankers to evaluate a merger.
WBD has a multitude of networks and their Max streaming service while Paramount owns their own movie studio, CBS, cable networks, and their own streaming service. They also are one of several NFL rights holders while they also hold NCAA men’s basketball tournament partnership rights with WBD.
Both companies are also carrying major debt loads and are losing in the “streaming wars” to Netflix, hence why consolidation is being considered.
The news is pertinent to wrestling fans for several reasons.
WBD executive Bruce Campbell met recently with TKO’s Mark Shapiro and WWE’s Nick Khan and Paul Levesque in what was believed to be a conversation about Raw’s domestic TV rights that are up next year. The meeting came after previous attempts at talks had reportedly not gone anywhere.
It also comes as WBD’s current TV wrestling partner AEW is approaching the final year of their multi-year contract for which the future is unknown. AEW head Tony Khan said last week that he met with WBD officials on December 12th, but he didn’t delve into what the focus of the conversation was.
Regarding WWE talking with WBD, Khan said at the post-Ring of Honor Final Battle press conference that “it’s part of the TV business” and that he feels AEW has performed “incredibly well” for WBD which has led to a strong relationship. He has previously said he believes in loyalty and would like to remain on WBD’s networks.
WBD is also one of several groups discussing NBA TV rights which they are expected to share with multiple other broadcast entities. How a merger could affect those commitments of cash to the NBA, WWE or AEW is unknown.
On the Paramount side, their CBS Media Ventures syndication arm does distribute Women’s of Wrestling in a multi-year deal that began in October 2021.
WBD and Paramount are reportedly in merger talks in todays Wrestling news, Chatalong Chatbox, Results will be Hidden inside a spoiler Button so you will not bet spoiled about direct results.
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