If a merger between Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global is agreed, and allowed to pass by federal regulators, it would create the world’s third largest news media company.
Preliminary talks between Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global could lead to a merger sometime after April 2024, when a clause barring Warner from conducting new acquisitions is lifted.
A combination of the two media giants would unite under a single roof famous Hollywood intellectual properties such as the Harry Potter and Mission: Impossible franchises, plus the CNN and CBS News outlets.
Both companies have been struggling as US viewers cancel cable-TV subscriptions in favour of streaming services which are expensive to run and aren’t making enough money yet to cover shrinking profits on traditional networks.
In the event of a merger between Warner and Paramount, it would make them the world’s third largest news media company, behind only Comcast and Thomson Reuters.
World’s largest news media companies(by market capitalisation)
1. Comcast
HQ: Philadelphia
$177.18 billion (R3.3 trillion)
2. Thomson Reuters
HQ: Toronto
$65.00bn
Warner-Paramount (if merger allowed)
HQ: New York
$37.68bn
3. Naspers
HQ: Cape Town
$33.44bn
4. Warner Bros. Discovery
HQ: New York
$27.65bn
5. Fox Corp.
HQ: New York
$13.97bn
6. News Corp.
HQ: New York
$13.70bn
7. Paramount Global
HQ: New York
$10.03bn
8. The New York Times Company
HQ: New York
$7.54bn
9. Nexstar Media Group
HQ: Irving
$5.40bn
10. IACI
HQ: New York
$4.54bn
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