The Hollywood studio shuffle may not be done just yet. Fresh from sealing its merger with Paramount Global, Paramount Skydance is now reportedly preparing a blockbuster takeover bid for Warner Bros Discovery. If it happens, the move would fuse together two of the most famous names in film and television and shake up the entertainment landscape on a scale not seen since the Disney takeover of FOX in 2019.
What makes this all the more surprising is that Paramount was widely seen as broke not too long ago. The company was struggling under debt, cutting jobs, and losing shows to rivals, which is why Skydance swooped in to buy them earlier this summer. Now, with Paramount Skydance under the control of David Ellison (CEO of Skydance and son of the very un-broke billionaire Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle), the tables have turned. Backed by dad’s enormous fortune (Forbes currently puts Larry’s wealth at over $360 billion), the studio is suddenly eyeing one of Hollywood’s biggest prizes.
The bid, according to the Wall Street Journal, would be a mostly cash deal, scooping up everything under the Warner Bros Discovery umbrella. That includes the Warner Bros studio, HBO, CNN, and of course the DC Comics empire. For anyone keeping score, that is Batman and Superman joining SpongeBob, ‘South Park’, ‘The Matrix’, and ‘Star Trek’ under one roof. Somewhere out there, an intern is already sketching the crossover pitch where Batman broods in the Batcave while SpongeBob flips Krabby Patties in the background.
Investors certainly liked the idea. Warner Bros Discovery’s shares leapt by as much as 30% after the reports broke, while Paramount saw a healthy 15% bump. Analysts called the move bold but doable, given Ellison Sr.’s wealth. One quipped it is “the Hollywood sequel no one expected but everyone saw coming.”
What would this mean for the UK?
This is where things get speculative, but it is worth poking at.
Sky does currently have deals with Warner Bros Discovery for shows like Peacemaker and House of the Dragon, but whether those contracts would hold under a Paramount takeover is anyone’s guess. Beyond that, this kind of mega-grab could, and we stress could, be read as a wider signal that Paramount is shifting towards hoarding the best toys for itself rather than sharing with the other children. If Paramount followed Disney’s model and kept everything in-house, it could be disastrous for Sky. Channels such as Sky Witness rely heavily on CBS dramas like FBI, Elsbeth, Fire Country, and Matlock, and losing access to those kinds of shows would leave a big hole in their schedule.
Then there is the looming launch of HBO Max in the UK, currently pencilled in for early 2026. If this mega-deal goes through, it raises the question: do we really need both HBO Max and Paramount+? They might decide to merge them into one service. What do you call that? Paramount Max? HBO Plus? HBO Paramount Plus Max? Or maybe just “All Your Shows In One Place, Please Give Us £19.99 A Month.”
The road ahead
For now, no official offer has been submitted, and the whole thing could still collapse in a flurry of Hollywood whispers. Regulators in the US are also likely to have plenty to say. After all, antitrust watchdogs love nothing more than Hollywood drama, and a deal that would unite two of the last independent major studios is guaranteed to raise eyebrows.
Still, if the Ellison family does pull it off, it would be the biggest shake-up in Hollywood in over a decade, with ripple effects felt all the way across the Atlantic.
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