Ellison family poised to pursue Warner Bros Discovery in reported £24 billion bid

Paramount Skydance, led by film producer-turned-studio executive David Ellison and backed by the Ellison family’s capital, is preparing a bid to acquire Warner Bros Discovery for roughly £24 billion, according to industry reports. The approach would target one of Hollywood’s largest content owners at a moment when the company is under active strategic review.

Warner Bros Discovery is home to major film franchises and brands, including Barbie, DC Comics and the Harry Potter catalogue, and operates cable networks such as CNN. Chief Executive David Zaslav has been pursuing a programme of restructuring and has signalled that splitting legacy cable assets from streaming and studio operations is one option being assessed as part of efforts to unlock value for shareholders.

The potential transaction would come days after Larry Ellison, co-founder of software and cloud group Oracle, briefly regained the position of the world’s richest person, underscoring the Ellison family’s capacity to finance large acquisitions. David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance has moved quickly since its recently announced combination with Paramount, and the family’s access to private capital is seen by investors as a meaningful advantage in any takeover contest.

Market participants said a cash-led proposal from a wealthy buyer could be attractive to investors weighing the outlook for Warner’s disparate assets and the company’s significant debt load. Warner Bros Discovery has reported heavy borrowing related to previous mergers and ongoing investment in streaming, which has pressured margins even as content franchises remain valuable.

The deal, if formally advanced, would be one of the largest in the media sector this decade and would intensify consolidation in an industry already reshaped by streaming competition. Executives and analysts point to consumer subscription fatigue, rising content costs and the need for scale as drivers pushing studios and distributors toward tie-ups and portfolio realignments.

Any bid would face regulatory scrutiny in multiple jurisdictions. Antitrust authorities in the United States and Europe have increasingly examined media and tech combinations for their impacts on competition, advertising markets and consumer choice. Regulators would consider the combined market shares across film production, streaming distribution and pay-TV to assess potential competitive harms.

The presence of other major media conglomerates, including Disney and Comcast, complicates the competitive picture and could factor into both shareholder assessments and regulatory reviews. Some analysts say that a crowded field of large content owners and distributors may reduce the risk that any single acquisition would create a dominant firm, but they caution that the outcome of formal reviews is inherently uncertain.

Warner’s board and senior management have been working through strategic options in recent months. That process has included discussions with advisors and outreach to potential buyers or partners as the company seeks a structure it believes will maximise shareholder value. Company representatives declined to comment on potential offers when approached by media.

Industry observers note that private capital and wealthy individuals have become more prominent buyers of entertainment assets as technology owners seek content to bolster streaming and distribution businesses. The combination of deep pockets and the sector’s long-term cash-generation potential makes large studios attractive targets, even as short-term pressures on subscriber growth persist.

A formal proposal would set in motion a timetable that could include due diligence, financing commitments and a shareholder vote. It would also likely prompt responses from other potential bidders and from regulators assessing national security and competition implications. For Warner Bros Discovery shareholders, any credible cash offer could be an immediate catalyst to re-evaluate the company’s strategic trajectory.

The possible move by Paramount Skydance reflects broader trends in media and markets: consolidation among legacy studios, continued prioritisation of large content libraries and an active search for structural solutions to the economics of streaming. How Warner’s board responds and how regulators react will determine whether the reported approach leads to a negotiated sale, a contested bid or a further reshaping of the company’s strategic options.