Warner Bros Discovery Inc held talks on a possible merger with Paramount Global, potentially combining two of the biggest media companies in the world, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The talks are preliminary and may not lead to an agreement, one of the people said.
Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav met with Bob Bakish, his counterpart at Paramount Global, on Tuesday in New York to discuss a possible deal, Axios earlier reported.
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Zaslav has also spoken with Paramount chair Shari Redstone, whose family company owns a controlling stake in Paramount, the owner of CBS and other television properties, Axios reported.
A combination of the companies would unite famous Hollywood properties, including the Paramount and Warner Bros film and TV studios, and put a number of paid-TV and broadcast stations, such as HBO and CBS, under a single roof.
A merger of the two large media companies would likely face intense scrutiny by US federal regulators.
US President Joe Biden’s administration. Warner Bros executives say they could complete such a merger because their company doesn’t own a broadcast network like Paramount’s CBS, Axios reported,
Both companies have struggled as consumers have canceled cable-TV subscriptions in favor of a new generation of streaming services. The streaming businesses are expensive to run, and have not made up for shrinking profits at traditional networks. Programming costs, especially for sports, have been escalating.
People familiar with Paramount’s thinking say the board has been more open to strategic alternatives, such as an alliance with another media giant, or even a sale to a private equity buyer or technology company.
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