Paramount Wants To Buy Warner Bros., And That Would Be A Disaster For The Movies

Two years ago, Warner Bros. Discover CEO David Zaslav met with Paramount CEO Bob Bakish to discuss the possibility of merging their two companies. At the time, it was believed that Zaslav was in the catbird seat thanks to WBD owning a far more popular streaming service, a breathtakingly deep library of movies, and CNN. Paramount Global, however, owned the broadcast giant CBS. A merger would've given WBD a crucial network foothold that would place it in competition with Comcast (which owns Universal) and Disney (which controls ABC). Ultimately, nothing came of this.

Two years later, thanks in large part to severe mismanagement on behalf of Zaslav, the one-time crown jewel of movie studios is on the market. And now that Paramount Global is owned by the Ellison family (patriarch Larry Ellison is the fourth-wealthiest person in the whole wide world), the once beleaguered media company is reportedly putting together a cash deal on the table to scoop up WBD.

And this will be a disaster for the entertainment industry.

Last month, Ellison scion David estimated that the newly monikered "Paramount: A Skydance Corporation" (these brand names are ludicrously subject to change because billionaires are as stupid as they are awful) would slash $2 billion out of its budget by firing 3,000 employees. That's a big number. When he acquires WBD (it's not an "if" because the Ellisons have appeased President Donald J. Trump by gutting CBS News), who's to say how many other jobs will be eliminated? Another 3,000? More? Also, what are his plans for the movie studio that will be one piece of his spoils?

This is bad all the way around.

While people like the Ellisons exist to pile wealth upon wealth, let's, for a second, entertain the notion that they care about art. Quincy Jones once said that Larry Ellison could shred a guitar (no mean feat there). Megan Ellison financed non-commercial movies from great filmmakers through her Annapurna Pictures label (like "The Master," "Zero Dark Thirty," and "If Beale Street Could Talk"). David Ellison keeps trying, and failing, to make "The Terminator" franchise happen.

The full force of the Ellison family is behind this alleged cash purchase, but I think David is the tip of the filial spear here. To be fair, David Ellison, a 42-year-old dropout from USC, has spent his unlimited largesse on a number of great movies. He has an EP credit on Joel and Ethan Coen's "True Grit," Alex Garland's "Annihilation," and is basically the reason "Top Gun: Maverick" happened. But no one is in this for the art.

If WBD and Paramount: A Skydance Company join forces, their streaming subscriber base (via HBO Max and Paramount+) could very well vault them past Amazon Prime Video. That would be a major coup for the Ellisons. Obviously, this is very good business for a very wealthy family. What do we get out of it?

Paramount and Warner Bros. merging would leave us with four major studios. It would broaden the Ellisons' media empire. It would make them the Murdoch family on steroids. In any other timeline, antitrust laws would prohibit such a merger, but as you might've noticed of late, laws are meaningless. Paramount: A Skydance Corporation feat. Warner Bros." will come to pass. The stock prices of both companies got a significant bump after the news of a potential agreement was announced. Thousands of people will lose their jobs. Theatrical exhibition will be further endangered. But if you like bad things and root for rapacious executives to win the great big game of capitalism, I guess this is fun for you. 

I just want to watch good movies, man.