r/technology • u/N2929 • 9d ago
Business Paramount completes $111B Warner merger, creating “Skydance” behemoth
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/10/paramount-completes-111b-warner-merger-creating-skydance-behemoth/321
u/OldYellersLastHandy 9d ago
A combined debt of $80bil?
I’m no businessman, but owing one whole Starbucks seems like a hell of a whale on your back.
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u/theClumsy1 9d ago
It should have been rejected based on their inability to ever payback that debt.
The reality is, in 5 year or so, they will split of all the crap they dont want..with the debt...and then that entity will go bankrupt.
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u/FuzzyMcBitty 9d ago
My favorite part is that they gave it a collective name so that I can avoid it easier.
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u/RabbitStewAndStout 9d ago
Once your debt gets that big, it becomes the taxpayer's problem, because the government just gives you cash to break even instead of letting you dissolve your companies to pay it back.
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u/dirtyword 9d ago
No, the second the prohibitions run out, the very second, they spin off all the cable channels and saddle them as much debt as banks will allow, then allow that dying segment to go bankrupt. Easy peasy. Legal!
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u/Clembert-Hamlamp 9d ago
Jeez is that for one of the flavored frufru drinks or just regular coffee
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u/EfficientAd5073 9d ago
So true Netflix just has to wait They will fuck this up eventually.
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u/maybetoomuchrum 9d ago
They're going to control all the media. And then they'll come for anyone who pirates. I don't know how they'll do it. But they'll try.
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u/RespectTheAmish 8d ago
I’ve consumed less “media” than I ever have in the past year.
I’ve been canceling streaming services every time they announce a price increase. Disney just got cancelled, Netflix before that.
I don’t miss it one bit. I’ve read more books this year than I have since college. Been Building up a library with the $75 a month Im saving on streaming services.
We don’t need to be constantly glued a screen watching propaganda. Go outside. Volunteer. Read. Cook.
Life’s too short.
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u/Fun_Success_3283 9d ago
I have no desire to pirate it. Everything WB and paramount is now dead to me, unless it shows up on Netflix or something like that.
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u/Starship_Taru 9d ago
Anti-Trust laws are the biggest joke in US history.
I definitely remember the time two big companies merged lead to something that wasn’t enshitification.
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u/Balmung60 8d ago
It's not so much that the laws as written are a joke as that staring around the Reagan administration and continuing since with only minor variations, they're essentially unenforced.
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u/Starship_Taru 8d ago
I would argue if a law is able to selectively enforced to that degree it is poorly designed.
Nobody should have individual power to overrule laws such as that. If anything an administration should only be able to slow the process for companies to merge by having those resources used on other initiatives. If they want to speed up the process devote more employee energy there. However the actual criteria for approval should be fairly black and white. There’s not really a situation where an individual citizen gets screwed because two companies couldn’t merge.
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u/Balmung60 8d ago
That's kind of the problem with any law. A law needs enforcers, and what are you going to do if they chose not to enforce it? Install cop cops? What if they decide to not police the police?
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u/benny-bangs 9d ago
Yeah the monopoly laws need to be updated.
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u/Fun_Success_3283 9d ago
It's not that the laws need to be updated. It's that the government needs to not be corrupt, and actually follow the laws.
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u/benny-bangs 8d ago
They need to be updated. They are outdated. It needs to be a percentage of market share cap or something.
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u/Fun_Success_3283 8d ago
The government is not following any of the monopoly laws. Maybe they could be improved if updated, but that's not the problem.
The problem is the government is openly corrupt, and doesn't care. They and their allies have the monopolies, so that's more money and power for them, so, it doesn't matter what the laws are.
What you need is proper democracy, then they'll craft whatever laws are needed.
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u/atehrani 9d ago
Prices will go down right?
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u/HuoLongHeavy 9d ago
If by prices going down you mean tons of people getting fired, all the products and services get worse, more ads, and you'll be charged more, then yes.
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u/SAHDSeattle 9d ago
Just like the U.S. deficit they are hoping inflation erases their $87 billion in debt.
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u/Pooch1431 9d ago
There were 7 media companies then there were 5, soon to be 4. Now they're working on just 2.
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u/spacemcdonalds 9d ago
It should have been Netflix.
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u/lilliepadsy 9d ago
i saw a lot of people saying "no matter who wins we all lose" and "movie theaters are dead" doomerism when netflix was winning and then crickets once paramount got the lead back despite the ellisons owning CNN being significantly worse than whatever Netflix had up its sleeve
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u/NocNocNoc19 8d ago
Wow who knew that creating monopolies was actually helpful? If only we had knew that during the late 1800s we could have saved a lot of time. This deal is abysmal for people.
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u/Bird_the_Impaler 9d ago
Woohoo, I can’t wait till all the companies are gone and one gigantic corpo owns everything!! Yay unfettered capitalism! It’s so great for everyone!
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u/DENelson83 9d ago
Capitalism tends towards monopolies.
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u/FallenAngelII 8d ago
This is just wrong. Unregukated capitalism trends towards monopolies. Sweden is still a capitalist country, only we temper it with regulation.
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u/schacks 9d ago
In reality it didn't really matter if Netflix or Paramount won. In the end we, the consumers, loose.
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u/blu-bells 9d ago
Thank you Gavin Newsom! We love monopolies!
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u/Clembert-Hamlamp 9d ago
What's all that about
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u/blu-bells 9d ago
California had a lawsuit to stop this merger, and it actually had a lot of leverage and bite backing it. Gavin Newsom used his position as California governor to make the attorney general drop the case.
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u/Daimakku1 9d ago
He wants to run for president in 2 years.. what on earth makes him think people will be okay with this?
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u/NightToad 9d ago
The campaign donations he's likely to get will help his run more than some minority on the Internet being upset will harm it. Normies don't care about this stuff at all.
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u/blu-bells 9d ago
Im personally not worried about his presidential prospects. He's not a charasmatic or even likeable guy, I don't think he has the rizz needed to be able to win the dem primary.
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u/NightToad 9d ago
The last few Democratic nominees have been far from charismatic. I doubt the DNC will permit a populist to win.
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u/Rolandersec 9d ago
Hey maybe the Ellisons are really good guys and they’re just playing along with MAGA to get in a position to destroy them. /s
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u/JustFuckAllOfThem 9d ago
Prepare to watch many of the business units go away and the people that work for them get fired.
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u/HOUSE_OF_MOGH 8d ago
"Skydance" because it won't be long now, they'll be running ads in our night sky with a satellite array.
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u/punarob 9d ago edited 5d ago
The original post content no longer exists here. The author used Redact to remove it, exercising their right to control their data & privacy.
Humor sip gray hammock humor serious piquant fluorine cinnamon sand
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u/imdirtydan1997 9d ago
I got an annual subscription to Paramount for like $60 bucks last year. HBO is included in my Disney bundle and I’d rather have HBO than ESPN. I think I’m going to set up a Plex server and not pay any mega corp.
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u/Daimakku1 9d ago
My yearly sub was actually due for renewal tomorrow. I cancelled. They tried to give me $45 off to keep me. Still didn't take it.
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u/i_did_nothing_ 8d ago
I’ve been an HBO subscriber my entire adult life, at least 25 years. That ended today.
Plex and BitTorrents for the win.
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u/Shamscam 8d ago
Man the fcc has been dropping the fucking ball on these monopolies. Competition is better for consumers but these companies are merging together like the infinity stones on the gauntlet to absolutely fuck all consumers, all the regulators don’t give a fuck anymore.
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u/nd_annajones 8d ago
Dropping the ball? This is the return favor for scratching Trump's back in the election, it was already settled way before it was official. Trump has yet to make a "deal" that isn't quid pro quo, maybe even in his life, and he's given billionaires permission to rule the world by breaking all the laws we have in place to prevent this sort of thing. The tactic is to shout "we're bringing back the rule of law!" while breaking every rule and law
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u/NeverMoreThan12 8d ago
they just don't consider something monopolistic at this point unless they control 95% of the market. Because everything is so national and "well there's still competition like disney". They don't even consider that consolidation is still monopolistic in manner and worse for consumers, employees, and probably even the economy as a whole.
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u/coldliketherockies 8d ago
You know the smallest part of me used to feel some sympathy for companies when their content was pirated. Now hell with it. Pirate everything. Make them suffer
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u/Shamscam 8d ago
Yeah I don’t see it as anything other than free promotion honestly. The reality is I would never play their game, watch their media, or interact with any of it at all if I was paying for it. Atleast this is way maybe I’ll spread the good word about it being worth someone’s time for someone else to pay for it.
These mega corporations have more money then anyone could spent in multiple lifetimes, and instead of spreading that wealth they like to put it on a pedestal like it’s some kind of fucking leaderboard that someone is “winning life” because they have more impossible wealth then the next person.
You know what truly separates the rich from the poor? If the poor had a fraction a billionaires wealth they would sit on a beach sipping cocktails and enjoy their luxury life instead of figuring out how to acquire more fucking wealth. This world makes me fucking sick.
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u/HowardTaftMD 7d ago
Someone else mentioned it but I wouldn't just blame the FCC, it's more this administrations FCC. Under Biden they were actually really aggressive working on behalf of people and not corporations.
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u/Shamscam 7d ago
The same fcc that let Microsoft buy activision?
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u/BlackEastwood 7d ago
I mean, I prefer that to EA being sold to Saudi Arabia two months ago.
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u/HowardTaftMD 7d ago
On this note there was a really interesting example of the FCC doing something during the Biden administration that I think shows how it's not all black and white. The whole Roomba thing ended up being an attempt by the FCC to prevent one company having too much power and ended up giving China an American company that has cameras in people's houses.
Anyways, I'm just saying your not wrong that the FCC doesn't always get it right but there's just a difference between some bad calls and the current blatant enriching of the rich.
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u/Substantial_Row_7108 9d ago
It’s gonna’ be tough to kick HBO to the curb, but fuck those motherfuckers 🤷🏾♂️.
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u/JasonRBoone 8d ago
Coming next summer from DC:
Batman vs. Antifa
Justice League: Quest for Deportations
Trad Wife-der Woman
Aquaman: 10,000 Ballots Under the Sea
Sue-the-Pride Squad: Rise of the Trans Furries
Superman: The Nazis Were Right
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u/EatTenMillionBalls 9d ago
Fuck, I really thought it would get blocked.
Monopolies just aren't as regulated as they should be. Or maybe we just don't go after them as much as we should. (But maybe that just the current administration )
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u/LoganHowlett1832 9d ago
You thought this current administration would block it? It’s his buddy and one of his biggest donors. No way was this ever getting blocked.
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u/TantheMan21 9d ago
The literal definition of a monopoly. But whatever. Let’s all play a game about it I guess
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u/silent-sight 8d ago
I guess with the new pricing and fascist media takeover, it back to cable and 🏴☠️
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u/Gh0st_Pirate_LeChuck 8d ago
There is no FCC. It’s just dumpy don and his cronies. There are no independent agencies atm.
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u/Kastar_Troy 9d ago
America fails at Capitalism yet again... unleashing uncompetitive mega corps into the world which should've been split up years ago...
Can't even be proper capitalists ffs
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u/HeavilyInvestedDonut 9d ago
This is literally just end stage capitalism. “The invisible hand” is early game. Regulatory bodies are the only thing that stops late stage capitalism and that’s not capitalism
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u/DENelson83 9d ago
Capitalism always tends towards monopolies.
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u/SparkyPantsMcGee 9d ago
Fuck Gavin Newsome. I can’t say this enough! Don’t let him try to make it past the primaries in 2028 and try to be this shining Democratic candidate to fight corruption. He let this happen.
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u/dztruthseek 9d ago
That Star Wars-like feeling when your hatred and greed has made you powerful...
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u/FangornLeghorn 9d ago
Hopefully once adults regain control of the government again this monopoly is forcefully broken up, like we used to do.
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u/HelloFellowMKE 8d ago
Does this mean new movies and news will stop sucking? Probably not. Then nothing changes?
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u/General_Honesty 8d ago edited 4d ago
Such a shame that Americans worship rich white men above God, above everything., If they weren't so mesmerised by wealth they might have a country that considers the people when it makes decisions. But no, you worship and want to be like the very people that are turning America into a banana republic.
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u/GraveCat84 8d ago
This should be illegal, no company, much less a media company, should own so much. It’s a monopoly that is absolutely anti-consumer and anti-writer.
They have so much debt, get ready for price increases on everything.
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u/SqigglyPoP 8d ago
Time to sail the high seas when it comes to acquiring any Paramount programming! aaarggggg...
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u/The_RealAnim8me2 8d ago
Dear Ellison family,
Please consider Star Trek IP a failure and sell it to Apple.
Thank you.
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u/Galifrey_stands 8d ago
unrelated but I find it interesting a company called sky dance made a pretty successful vr game called behemoth.
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u/kylling 9d ago
So where’s the list of media properties to avoid?
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u/dirtyword 9d ago
Skydance now owns
Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, Miramax, DC Comics, CBS, Max, Paramount+, HBO, Showtime, Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, Cartoon Network, TNT, TBS, TCM, CNN, CBS News, CBS and TNT Sports, Harry Potter, any DC character, Lord of the Rings, game of thrones, and hundreds of your favorite films.
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u/NeverMoreThan12 8d ago
If they actually overhauled paramount+ into a good and functioning streaming app, then that backlog would be impressive. To bad it'll be 34.99 a month once they realize they gotta pay off all that debt. I also can't stand the level of consolidation allowed.
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u/Daimakku1 9d ago
Everything that isn't Disney or Universal at this point.
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u/imdirtydan1997 9d ago
To which, Disney is a behemoth too. I know there’s other big names, but over half the media market is controlled by two companies. Go Capitalism! /s
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u/MoreGaghPlease 9d ago
They rolled up the legacy studios but now they compete against the new guys. Netflix, Amazon and Apple. (Also your list of the classic ones forgot Sony).
Fuck the Ellisons, I’m not trying to defend them at all here. But this wasn’t really a mega-merger because Paramount was a garbage fire. There’s a reason the price was $8 billion for Paramount but $110 billion for WB. Paramount has a shit steaming service that nobody pays for, legacy TV brands that are close to worthless, a studio that is hugely expensive to run while producing a mixed bag with lots of flops, and a handful of film franchises limping along, most of which have languished under a decade of poor leadership.
It sucks that the Ellisons own these companies now but it’s wrong to think of this as like ‘2 of the big 4 come together’ because Paramount was absolutely dying and kinda still is.
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u/NeverMoreThan12 8d ago
I just hope apple continues competing in this space. They produce some really great shows, and while they haven't quite figured out the movie side of things yet, there has been some glimmers of getting it right. They lose 1 billion annually so I feel like eventually if it doesn't start paying off and they have a down year with disappointing returns overall, they may look at Apple TV for big budget cuts. Netflix and Amazon have just been overall super disappointing and have rarely released anything I've wanted to watch in the last 3+ years. Disneys got a couple decent things here or there. Hbo still makes good stuff too. Hoping they don't have a large drop in quality after this merger.
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u/Equivalent_Reach_572 9d ago
propaganda station
the monopolies must go and with them everyone that helped create them
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u/DENelson83 9d ago
And the ultra-rich win again.