As speculation swirls about whether Paramount Skydance will try to acquire for rival media giant Warner Bros. Discovery, the former’s CEO says he’s not able to talk about it.
“We’re a publicly traded company, so we’re not in a position to be able to comment on rumors or speculation of any kind,” Paramount Skydance head David Ellison said Thursday at Bloomberg’s Screentime event.
Ellison did, however, offer some thoughts on what he says is the company’s “mindset” regarding long-term strategy.
“I think, ironically, it was [WBD CEO] David Zaslav who said last year that consolidation in the media business is important. The way we approach everything is, first and foremost, what’s good for the talent community, what’s good for our shareholders and value creation, and what’s good for, basically, storytelling at large,” Ellison said. “From our standpoint, whether we approach any acquisition — and I actually do think there are a lot of options out there in terms of what might be actionable in the near future — we would approach it through the lens of wanting to make more, not less. … You need more content to yield more engagement.”
As for what those options for potential M&A activity might be? Another no comment. Ellison also declined to answer a question from Bloomberg’s Lucas Shaw about whether the company had already made an offer for WBD that was rejected.
Warner Bros. Discovery is in the process of splitting itself in two, with the company’s linear networks (excluding HBO) spinning off into a new company. Still, a deal for part or all of WBD would likely come with a significantly higher price tag than the $8 billion Ellison’s Skydance and partner RedBird Capital paid for Paramount; WBD currently has a market cap of about $44 billion, plus billions more in debt.
Shaw also grilled Ellison about Paramount’s acquisition of digital outlet The Free Press and the installation of FP founder Bari Weiss as editor in chief of CBS News. Ellison said that in addition to wanting to restore “civil discourse” and build trust in the CBS News brand, the Free Press deal could help the news division’s multi-platform efforts.
“The Free Press will stay in the digital landscape, but I also think when you talk about meeting people where they are, that’s in broadcast news. That’s on the Free Press website. That’s in podcasts. It’s also going to be eventually in direct to consumer. We do want to build a home and a DTC platform … where you can get all of that in a digital environment, direct to consumer. The Free Press is an accelerant to accomplish that goal.”
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