Paramount CEO David Ellison confident in $110B Warner Bros. takeover despite state-level legal fight

David Ellison is betting that bigger is better. The Paramount CEO has expressed strong confidence in his company’s $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, a deal that would create the largest entertainment conglomerate on the planet.

The enterprise value sits at roughly $110.9 billion, with the equity component coming in at approximately $81 billion, or $31 per share in cash. And Ellison isn’t exactly scraping together couch cushion money to fund it: $47 billion in equity backing comes from the Ellison family and RedBird Capital Partners.

The path to the biggest media merger ever

The courtship started with unsolicited offers back in September 2025. Warner Bros. Discovery launched a formal auction process the following month, drawing interest from multiple parties before Paramount Skydance emerged as the winning bidder. The landmark agreement was announced on February 27, 2026.

Combining with WBD would create a combined entity with projected revenue of around $70 billion and a subscriber base of roughly 207 million.

Federal regulators appear to agree the deal passes muster. The US Department of Justice cleared the transaction in June 2026, and European regulators have also signed off, subject to certain commitments from Paramount.

Twelve states say not so fast

A coalition of 12 US states has filed antitrust challenges, arguing the merger would concentrate too much market power in a single entity. Those lawsuits have already produced judicial injunctions that pushed the expected closing date from the original timeline to June 1, 2027.

What this means for investors and markets

The financial projections for the combined company are ambitious. Paramount expects $16 billion in EBITDA and $10 billion in cash flow post-acquisition.

The June 2027 target closing date gives investors nearly a year to watch how the state-level legal challenges play out. The spread between WBD’s current trading price and the $31 per share offer price will serve as a real-time market gauge of how likely traders believe the deal is to close. A narrowing spread signals growing confidence. A widening one suggests the legal challenges are gaining traction.

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