Warner Bros. Discovery stock jumps more than 30% on Paramount takeover talk
Paramount Skydance, backed by the Ellison family, could be about to launch a takeover battle for the parent company of HBO Max
Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery surged more than 30% Thursday afternoon following reports that Paramount Skydance is preparing a takeover bid for the broadcast rival.
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The Wall Street Journal reported the mostly cash offer would be for the entire company, which would give the parent company of the Paramount Plus streaming channel rights to all of the HBO Max catalog.
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Paramount Skydance is backed by the Ellison family, which saw a tremendous surge in wealth yesterday, with the sharp rise in Oracle stock. (Bloomberg said the more than $100 billion increase in Larry Ellison's wealth was the largest single one-day jump in individual net worth ever recorded by the news organization.)
Warner Bros. recently announced plans to split into two companies, one that would focus on its global TV networks and the other on streaming and studios.
Warner Bros. Discovery stock has been largely flat year to date, before Thursday's surge. As of 2:00 p.m. ET, shares were up 60% for the year. The stock price is still down 25% over the past five years, however.
Whether or not Warner is interested in a buyout is a bigger question. CEO David Zaslav, on Wednesday, said HBO Max will be in 150 million homes by next year and called the streaming service undervalued.
"The fact that this is quality — and that’s true across our company, motion picture, TV production and streaming quality — we all think that gives us a chance to raise price," he said. "We think we’re way underpriced. We’re going to take our time."