Deadline has confirmed that Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount Global have held talks on a possible merger. Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish and WBD boss David Zaslav sat down on December 19 at the former’s NYC HQ, a well place source tells Deadline, “It was all rather preliminary, ” the source says of the talks “Shari is on a bit of a listening tour to see what she might be able to get if she decides to sell the company or part of it,” he added, noting Redstone was not in the room with Zas and Bakish for the actual meeting.
Redstone did have a separate conversation with Zaslav this week where the “role” of broadcast network CBS in any potential future deal was a major topic. “Shari wants to sell,” an insider recently told Deadline. “The studio could be sold in 15 minutes and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s sold in two years,” the insider added.
Wall Street didn’t have any immediate reaction to the deal. WBD stock slipped almost 6% during the regular trading day and was basically flat in after-hours trading.
Paramount slid 2% and drifted down further after the session. Word of the talks surfaced not long after Bloomberg reported that Paramount had also been discussing the potential sale of BET Networks.
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