Warner Bros. Investors Approve $110 Billion Paramount Deal

Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. shareholders voted overwhelmingly to approve a takeover by Paramount Skydance Corp., despite widespread opposition to the deal in Hollywood.

Paramount agreed to buy Warner Bros. for $110 billion in February, beating out Netflix Inc. after a months-long bidding war. Stakeholders are set to receive $31 in cash for each share of Warner Bros. common stock that they own once the agreement goes through. It’s still facing antitrust review in several jurisdictions, including the US and EU. If the deal has not been finalized by Sept. 30, they will receive 25 cents per share for each quarter until closing as part of a “ticking fee.”

“We look forward to closing the transaction in the coming months and realizing the creation of a next-generation media and entertainment company that better serves both the creative community and consumers,” a spokesperson for Paramount said in a statement.  An $81 billion Warner-Paramount mega merger has received shareholders’ stamp of approval, propelling a deal that could vastly reshape Hollywood and the wider media landscape closer to the finish line.

Per a preliminary vote count on Thursday, the overwhelming majority of Warner Bros. Discovery stakeholders voted in support of selling the entire business to Paramount for $31 a share, the company said. Including debt, the deal is valued at nearly $111 billion based on Warner's current outstanding shares.

Skydance-owned Paramount wants to buy all of Warner. That means HBO Max, cult-favorite titles like “Harry Potter” and even CNN could soon find themselves under the same roof with CBS, “Top Gun” and the Paramount+ streaming service. A greenlight from company shareholders increases the likelihood of that becoming a reality.

David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, said in a statement that stockholder approval marks “another key milestone toward completing this historic transaction.” Paramount added that it looks forward to closing in the coming months, and “realizing the creation of a next-generation media and entertainment company.”

It's not a done deal quite yet. The acquisition still faces ongoing regulatory reviews. Many critics have decried further consolidation in an industry already controlled by just a few major players, and are calling for the merger to be blocked — if not from the Trump administration, which so far seems unlikely, perhaps at the state level or through other court fights both in the U.S. and abroad.

Meanwhile, Warner shareholders rejected a separate measure Thursday outlining post-merger payments for company executives.

The takeover fight

Paramount’s quest for Warner has been far from smooth sailing. And Warner leadership wasn’t always eager to enter this particular marriage.

Late last year, Warner rebuffed Paramount’s overtures to instead strike a $72 billion studio and streaming deal with Netflix. Paramount, meanwhile, went directly to shareholders with a hostile bid to take over the whole company, including the cable business that Netflix did not want. All three companies spent months fighting publicly over who had the better offer on the table. Warner’s board repeatedly backed Netflix’s bid. But eventually, Paramount offered more money and Netflix abruptly bowed out of the race.

That corporate drama may now be over, but implications of a potential Warner sale remain. Thousands of actors, directors, writers and other industry professionals have voiced “unequivocal opposition” to the Paramount deal, in a letter arguing that further consolidation will lead t

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