Why Paramount went looney tunes for Warner Bros.
The Indicator from Planet Money
NPR
4.7 • 9.5K Ratings
🗓️ 3 March 2026
⏱️ 9 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Paramount Skydance is making a $110 billion play for Warner Bros. Discovery, and with it intellectual property like Harry Potter, Batman, and subsidiaries HBO and CNN. On today’s show, who is the man behind the deal? Does he really want to make movies? Will any regulators try to stop it?
FYI, we are going on a book tour! Planet Money’s first ever book comes out in April. We’ll be celebrating in about a dozen cities. There’s a limited edition tote bag included with your ticket, while supplies last. Details, dates and how to get your ticket at planetmoneybook.com.
Related:
The Warner Bros. curse (newsletter)
Coyote vs. Warner Bros.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | NPR. It is a high-stakes, enemies to lovers story with enough political and corporate intrigue to satisfy the most discerning of drama fans. |
| 0:22.8 | And it's not over yet. |
| 0:30.4 | We are, of course, talking about Paramount Skydances proposed $110 billion takeover of Warner Brothers discovery. |
| 0:31.5 | There was a time in this saga when it looked like Netflix would emerge victorious. |
| 0:36.6 | Warner Brothers kept rebuffing Paramount's offers, |
| 0:39.3 | and then, last week, Netflix was out. Warner Brothers accepted Paramount's bid. This is the |
| 0:45.7 | indicator for Planet Money. I'm Adrienne Ma. And I'm Waylon Wong. If the deal goes through, |
| 0:50.6 | two legendary Hollywood studios would merge. CNN would be in the hands of Paramount CEO David Ellison, |
| 0:57.7 | the son of a tech billionaire and an ally of President Donald Trump. |
| 1:01.6 | And the HBO Mac streaming service would probably get renamed again. |
| 1:05.8 | So today on the show, we break down the basics of this Hollywood corporate marriage. |
| 1:10.5 | Who is David Ellison? What does he want? And how might this deal reshape our polarized media |
| 1:16.5 | landscape? Plus, we learn about a unique maneuver that Paramount is using to try and gain |
| 1:22.0 | speedy government approval in the U.S. Today, we are bringing on a marquee name to help walk us through the Paramount Warner Brothers deal. |
| 1:32.4 | I'm Dave Fulkenflick. |
| 1:33.5 | I cover the media for NPR. |
| 1:35.1 | Hi, Dave. |
| 1:35.7 | You're having a very busy few weeks here. |
| 1:38.4 | Why? |
| 1:38.6 | Anything come up? |
| 1:39.5 | I don't know. |
| 1:40.6 | Why are we here? |
... |
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