On February 27, 2026, Paramount Skydance Corporation and Warner Bros. Discovery announced a definitive merger agreement valued at $110 billion in enterprise value. Under the terms, Paramount will pay $31 per share in cash for all outstanding shares of Warner Bros. Discovery. The equity value of the deal stands at $81 billion.
The boards of both companies approved the transaction. It is expected to close by the third quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory clearance and approval by Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders. If the deal has not closed by September 30, 2026, Warner shareholders will receive a daily “ticking fee” of $0.25 per share each quarter until it does.
Paramount is financing the deal through $47 billion in new Class B shares, backed by the Ellison Family and RedBird Capital Partners, and a $57.5 billion debt commitment from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi, and Apollo. David Ellison, Chairman and CEO of Paramount, controls the company along with his father, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, one of the wealthiest individuals in the United States.
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The combined company would bring together the studios behind Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, Mission Impossible, Top Gun, the DC Universe, CNN, HBO, CBS, and SpongeBob SquarePants, among hundreds of other properties.
The protests
The announcement triggered immediate public opposition. On April 23, 2026, the same day the Warner Bros. Discovery board approved the Paramount deal, protests were held in New York City in the morning and outside the White House in the evening.
On June 6, 2026, a formal “Block the Merger” event took place in Los Angeles, organized by the American Economic Liberties Project. Writers, actors, crew members, and small business owners gathered to voice opposition. Similar events were scheduled in New York and Atlanta on the same day.
At the Los Angeles event, speakers included FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez, former FTC Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya, and WGA West President Michelle Mulroney.
Earlier, at CinemaCon 2026 on April 14, attendees wore pins opposing the merger at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
What workers fear
The core concern among workers is job losses tied to Paramount’s stated plan to cut $6 billion in costs. Paramount’s Chief Operating and Chief Strategy Officer Andy Gordon confirmed the figure in calls with Wall Street analysts after the deal was signed.
“We feel confident in our $6-billion number after doing due diligence extensively with Warner Bros.,” Gordon told analysts. Paramount describes these cuts as “synergies,” meaning the removal of overlapping roles.
Warner Bros. Discovery currently employs approximately 35,000 people. About 7,500 of those work in production teams. Paramount itself peaked at nearly 20,000 employees in August 2025 before laying off around 1,000 workers and planning to cut 1,000 more.
Employees at both companies used the word “bloodbath” in conversations reported by trade outlets. A Paramount employee told media there were “wordless screams” at the company’s Los Angeles office when the news broke. Many workers expressed hope for voluntary buyouts before forced cuts begin.
“Think about the bloodletting of thousands of employees at CBS and Paramount, and now it will be more. Just awful,” an industry insider told Variety.
One producer at the Beverly Hills town hall described the situation plainly: “A domino fell during the pandemic. Another fell during the writers’ strike. If Paramount merges with Warner Bros., it may be the final domino that knocks everything down.”
Workers also fear increasing use of artificial intelligence to replace human roles. A television writer at the town hall said a project he had in development with CBS Studios slowed down after the Paramount-Warner deal was announced.
“A decade ago, the casual conversation between peers would be, ‘What are you working on?’ Now it’s, ‘Are you working?'” one speaker at the Los Angeles event said.
Unions oppose the deal
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which has 1.3 million members nationwide, submitted a formal report to the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division opposing the merger. The union said the deal poses a direct threat to nearly 15,000 Motion Picture Teamsters.
“This merger threatens the livelihoods of the very workers who built these studios into industry giants,” Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said. “We’ve seen what happens when corporations consolidate power: jobs disappear, production leaves American communities, and workers pay the price.”
The Teamsters said they would only support the deal if Paramount agreed to enforceable commitments covering domestic production levels, strong labor standards, and explicit guarantees against layoffs and erosion of union jobs.
The union drew comparisons to Disney’s 2019 acquisition of 20th Century Fox. That deal led to “eliminated production units, significant job losses, and canceled projects,” the Teamsters said.
The Writers Guild of America also opposed the deal. WGA officials said the merged company would become the largest employer of their members, and that the elimination of direct competition between the two studios would harm writers and reduce jobs across the industry.
Hollywood stars and lawmakers speak out
More than 4,000 performers signed an open letter against the merger, led by actress and political activist Jane Fonda. The letter warned that the deal would shrink competition “at a moment when our industries and the audiences we serve can least afford it.”
Fonda also heads a pro-First Amendment group and hosted a Zoom press conference against the deal. Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey delivered a 13-minute video critique titled “Warner Bros-Paramount Merger, the Corporate Propaganda Monopoly: Ellison Media Cartel.”
At a New York rally, former city comptroller Brad Lander and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams also spoke out against the deal.
Concerns extended beyond jobs. The deal would place CNN and CBS News, two major U.S. news outlets, under the control of the Ellison family, which maintains close ties with President Donald Trump. A hearing in Los Angeles into the city’s shrinking film and TV production jobs was dominated by concerns about newsroom independence if the merger proceeds.
Regulatory scrutiny
The Trump Justice Department has already subpoenaed documents from both companies as part of an antitrust review. Under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, the mandatory waiting period expired on February 19, 2026, meaning there is no immediate statutory bar to closing the deal. However, the DOJ retains the power to challenge a merger even after the HSR period expires.
Analysts have said the DOJ’s review could delay final consummation of the merger by up to a year.
The concern among regulators is market concentration. If the deal closes, the U.S. entertainment industry would be dominated by a “Big Four” of conglomerates. Critics say this level of consolidation reduces competition and raises the potential for price-fixing.
Paramount’s legal team argues the deal is pro-consumer, pro-competitive, and strengthens Hollywood’s role against tech and streaming giants. Paramount also secured foreign investment clearance from Germany on January 27, 2026.
A regulatory termination fee of $7 billion would be paid by Paramount if the deal collapses due to regulatory failure to approve it.
Background: How the deal was won
The path to the Paramount-Warner deal was contested. Warner Bros. Discovery had first announced a merger agreement with Netflix in December 2025. Paramount launched a competing hostile bid, and the two fought a months-long bidding war.
Netflix’s proposed acquisition of Warner’s film and TV business was valued at approximately $83 billion. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos defended the deal amid criticism from Hollywood, but the DOJ also launched an antitrust review of the Netflix bid, issuing civil subpoenas to other entertainment companies.
Warner’s board ultimately chose the Paramount offer. Netflix then used the funds saved from its failed bid to approve a $25 billion stock buyback. Warner shareholders separately voted against a $551 million severance package for outgoing Warner CEO David Zaslav, though that vote was non-binding.