Paramount will offenbar Warner Bros. Discovery kaufen

Another mega deal in the media business could be in the offing in the USA: According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Paramount Skydance wants to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. There is no further information on a possible purchase price, but the deal is likely to be expensive.

According to the Wall Street Journal report, Paramount aims to buy the entire Warner Bros. Discovery business, including cable television and film studios. Warner Bros. Discovery actually wishes to split up: The streaming business and the studios are to be separated from the cable channel division to maximize the potential of both business areas. A deal with Paramount would apparently forestall this split. WarnerMedia and Discovery did not merge until 2022.

Paramount itself has only just emerged from a merger with Skydance, which was completed in the summer for 8 billion US dollars. Skydance is backed by film producer David Ellison. He is the son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, who has risen to become the richest person in the world, at least in the interim, and has good relations with US President Donald Trump.

Political entanglements

The planned takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount Skydance therefore also has a political component. This is because Warner Bros. Discovery's portfolio includes the Trump-critical news channel CNN. The merger of Paramount and Skydance already showed that the Trump administration's news business is not considered sacrosanct in such takeovers.

Paramount owns the news channel CBS, which had become embroiled in a dispute with US President Donald Trump. Trump accused CBS of editing an interview with Kamala Harris in favor of the Democratic candidate on the program "60 Minutes" during the presidential race last year. CBS always denied these allegations, but nevertheless agreed to a settlement payment of 16 million dollars.

The station also canceled the late-night show hosted by commentator Stephen Colbert, who frequently criticized Trump. In addition, the station discontinued diversity programs. Only then did the FCC, which as a supervisory authority has a say in takeovers in the media sector, wave the deal through. FCC boss Brendan Carr was appointed by Donald Trump.

Warner Bros. Discovery is planning to offer its streaming service HBO Max in Germany at the beginning of next year. HBO content can currently be seen in part on Sky.

(dahe)