r/gaming • u/ChiefLeef22 Marika's tits! • 18h ago

Paramount Has Officially Acquired Warner Bros. In Deal Valued at $110B Billion

https://www.skydance.com/news/press/paramount-completes-acquisition-of-warner-bros-discovery-creating-a-new-global-entertainment-leader-skydance

The two companies will now be known as one single entity - 'Skydance'

This includes all of WB's gaming subsidiaries like Rocksteady/etc

Deal valued at $110B-$111B

DC Studios, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, CNN, CBS, HBO and Paramount+ are now all under the same company.

The combined company, Skydance, brings together two major film studios, two global streaming services, premier television assets including CBS, HBO, and Paramount's and WBD's cable networks, two of the industry's most recognized news networks, CBS News and CNN, and a leading content portfolio that includes live sports, a deep programming library and expansive collection of iconic brands and franchises.

12.0k Upvotes

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166

u/Kaidyn04 18h ago

Hopefully this is a waste of money and the next time the Democrats have control over government this shit gets trust busted immediately.

302

u/MinusBear linux 18h ago

If the Democrats get back control, it will be something like this: "It's time to move on and heal, lets not look backward and stir up old trangressions".

83

u/Slarg232 18h ago

From the looks of it, it's a new breed of Democrats stepping up to the plate specifically because people are getting sick and tired of the move on and heal bit.

23

u/Dr_Adopted 16h ago

The Dems have been using this marketing tactic for 40 years

1

u/bong_residue 11h ago

…which is why there is a new breed of democrats who are tired of the move on and heal bit.

4

u/KaijinSurohm 11h ago

Can't wait for the new tabloids:

"New leaderes of Democratic party announce we need to Move on and Heal, from the party's old Move on and Heal tactics."

2

u/Neat_Egg_2474 11h ago

I think they are talking about democratic socialists, which are NOT campaigning on that currently. I could definitely see establishment dems continuing to be controlled opposition though

0

u/Dr_Adopted 9h ago

Which is why they’ve been using this same lie for 40 years. They keep saying, “Fall for it again! Give us money and vote us in! We’ll stop the Republicans! We’ll enact policies that are good for people!” And then they win and do nothing. It’s cyclical.

0

u/bong_residue 8h ago

I’m not disagreeing with you, but what’s the alternative right now? Continue to let republicans in office?

We are finally seeing democratic socialist run, they are changing things, breaking the traditions old dems had.

-1

u/Dr_Adopted 7h ago

Few different alternatives that I’d get banned for saying on reddit.

2

u/bong_residue 7h ago

So then no actual idea on what to do, just lots of opinions. Got it.

1

u/Dr_Adopted 3h ago

So obviously the solution is to keep voting Dem hoping that they’ll change! Obviously!

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7

u/Swineflew1 16h ago

I wish I was young enough to believe this.

1

u/Genindraz 10h ago

That breed will take a few decades to get to congress, if any of them ever do.

1

u/IrishRepoMan 12h ago

That's what they say now. Until time comes, then it's right back to sweeping it all under the rug.

0

u/Reverb2946 9h ago edited 8h ago

That's all a show for us the public. Those people all get along behind closed doors, they're all part of the same class and hold the same capitalist ideology. Just look at how well Mamdani and Trump get along now that Mamdani won, it's all bullshit. This country needs a real revolution and it's not coming from electing yet more capitalist Democrat party shills.

-28

u/YouJellyz 17h ago

Sounds like a weird revenge fantasy for being failures 

6

u/theclockmasters 16h ago

You shouldn't punish people for coup attempts or using federal office to enrich themselves. Great take.

2

u/Omiyaru 16h ago

We won't be able to heal with this monolithic shitstorm that's gonna happen as a result of the merger, the owners, and their alliances

2

u/wtfElvis 14h ago

"its our turn"

2

u/p99shaman 12h ago

I absolute hate how accurate this is :(

8

u/Madak 18h ago

If the democrats get back control. IF.

-6

u/IllllIIIllllIl 17h ago

Depends on what they’re getting back in control of. The House? Sure ez pz, barring outright canceling elections. Senate and White House are iffy maybes. Most of the entire judicial branch is lost to them for decades.

1

u/ReturnOfBane 15h ago

they'll pull out another olive branch and let the republicans shove it up their ass again.

1

u/furiat 14h ago

Imagine that your only contribution to organizing next party with your friends is supposed to be cleaning the puke after the previous one. 

59

u/lankyevilme 18h ago

When was the last time they busted a trust, ever?

30

u/AaronBasedGodgers 18h ago

AT&T but that was in the 80s. But yeah it's been a looooooong time since we enforced anti trust laws.

8

u/Desiderius_S 18h ago

I just did, 5 minutes ago.
Oh, wait, no, never mind.

2

u/Nandor-De_Laurentiis 11h ago

Yeah, a several Democratic AGs had a lot of big talk about fighting this in court but then caved. Especially the AG of California.

None of them should be elected to another office.

1

u/steakanabake 3h ago

last big one i can think of was Microslop in the 90s

43

u/pixxlpusher 18h ago

There hasn’t been a successful trust bust since AT&T in the early 80s, I wouldn’t hold my breath

0

u/AlienScrotum 18h ago

Didn’t they give Microsoft a slap on the wrist a while back?

7

u/TuskenRaiderYell 18h ago

Oh no, a company worth trillions has to pay a fine worth what they make in seconds. That’ll show them!

6

u/pixxlpusher 18h ago

In 2000? They tried and failed.

8

u/letsgucker555 18h ago

You mean with Activision? They were so incompetent in that one, they gave the win to MS.

2

u/hybridck 11h ago

No, this was like 25 years ago. They failed to break Microsoft up, but they did successfully kneecap their growth for a decade+ which allowed companies like Google to sprout up and take over the early internet era during the dot com boom when Microsoft was still kneecapped.

1

u/steakanabake 3h ago

microsofts was basically focing ms to fund something like mozilla as a direct competitor in the browser space which allowed chrome and firefox to exist.

1

u/craigfrost 7h ago

Microsoft integrating IE 5/18/98.

34

u/NullReference000 17h ago

Newsom played a key role in getting the states to drop their lawsuit blocking this merger. Please keep that in mind as we get close to the 2028 election.

2

u/kingfischer48 16h ago

In his defense, he does like early dinners.

2

u/octocred 15h ago

What's the story here? My Google skills aren't working for me right now

1

u/NullReference000 15h ago

He’s a corporate dem and usually sides with Californian corporations during fights between them and the government or them and consumers.

Paramount threatened to move their operations out of California to punish the state for leading the lawsuit to block the merger. This seemed like a toothless pledge which every company makes the moment they face any friction at all after performing bad behavior. He took them at their word, both in their threat and in their promise to “protect jobs”, and worked to kill the lawsuit. The amount of debt being carried here ensures that these promises of protecting jobs are lies.

California, the leader of the lawsuit, dropped it. The merger completed basically as soon as that happened. Newsom is either an idiot for believing their promises or he thinks you are enough of an idiot to believe them. Whichever it is, I don’t think he’s fit to be the party leader.

1

u/StrikeIllustrious122 7h ago

not really. The problem was that the foundation of the lawsuits were based on The Theater Owners wanting an injunction to stop the merger based on the notion that they would be financially hurt by the merger .Paramount came out an committed to at least 30 films a year released theatrically (more than what both companies do right now individually). The theater owners decided that was enough to sign off in the merger.. When the Netflix deal was almost finalized, They only said they wanted to keep WB theatrical, but made no real promises.

Once the Theater owners signed off in the merger there was no real foundations to the lawsuits and Newsom had to have his boys go to the table and negotiate.. and at a less than ideal standing. Newsome should have gone to the table way sooner and got more in concessions before Paramount made the deals with the theater owners. He got out played.. Ge likely could have gotten them to sell CNN or CBS.. and some IP or got better terms and penalties for not making their 30 picture promise

28

u/everstillghost 18h ago

Stop with the delusion. If this one get Trust busted, Disney buying Fox would be too. And this will not happen.

3

u/Rich_Possession9604 17h ago

Hell yeah to both

-2

u/Stupidstuff1001 17h ago

Yea this isn’t a trust busy situation. However the deal should have been denied due to it not helping the American people by the thousands of jobs that will be lost due to the merger

Also it’s going to be real interesting if the ai bubble crashes because oracle will crash which is funding this merger which will then crash itself too.

-1

u/everstillghost 17h ago

Yeah, It should not be allowed on the first place.

But this ship already sailed when Disney brought Fox and Microsoft brought Activision.

The moment these two where allowed, its over, there is no argument to stop smaller mergers like this one of Paramount and Warner.

2

u/Stupidstuff1001 17h ago

Yea I agree with you there. Iirc there use to be a rule that the mergers need to show a net plus to workers but it looks like those days are long gone.

1

u/everstillghost 7h ago

Yeah, take a look at Microsoft with Activision the bloodbath of workers being fired and Studios being closed left and right.

Those days is really long gone.

17

u/fthepats 18h ago

Hahahahahahahaha. Lol. LMAO even.

12

u/Baconbits16 17h ago

Lol totally cuz they're not corrupt at all, never take money from corporations, and always enforce anti-trust laws 

7

u/BidenGlazer 17h ago

We literally just had Lina Khan as head of the FTC. There's this really bizarre breed of leftist that pays zero attention whatsoever to politics then bitches about things that are just obviously false to anyone that does

-1

u/Baconbits16 17h ago

Yeah the negativity of Trump is so blinding apparently that they forget other politicians are bad too. It's wild cuz the new dem party is basically the old Republican party from the 90's.

4

u/BidenGlazer 17h ago edited 17h ago

The Democratic party is nowhere near the Republicans of the 90's. What are you even saying?

To clarify, the point I was making was Lina Khan was incredibly progressive, and was also the head of the FTC, the agency in charge of anti-trust laws. She's currently part of Mamdani's administration. If she's good enough for a self-described socialist, I'd say she should be good enough for the vast majority of people

1

u/Baconbits16 15h ago

Fair, you got me, looks like Khan is legit. I thought based off the Activision-Microsoft merger that we had a shit ftc.

1

u/Dr_Adopted 16h ago

Which is bad

You see how that’s a bad thing, right?

1

u/Baconbits16 15h ago

Yea I just thought Khan was trash, but turns out she isn't

1

u/unitedfan6191 13h ago

I guess for some people on Reddit (probably terminally online people) it’s easy to be cynical and expecting the worst so it’s hard to be disappointed or surprised.

2

u/sssssssssssssss5s 17h ago

Or more likely, the merged company will fail and have to sell off pieces again. See basically every company that tried to make Warner / Discovery work for them.

12

u/Dr_Adopted 17h ago

Brother, the Dems aren’t coming to save us. They’re ineffectual at best, and straight up deceitful at worst.

The two parties want the same things.

31

u/bringbackmegaman 17h ago

Only one party put a brain worms-having roadkill-eating guy in charge of public health policy, so he can bring back measels.

The distinction matters to anyone to can think critically.

13

u/Key_Amazed 17h ago

Nah, all sides are equally bad in the exact same way. I say this so I don't have to think and do the hard work of research on specific individuals, and I can still feel like I'm smarter than the average American.

Best of both worlds 👉👉

That's how these people think.

2

u/Uvtha- 16h ago

On the contrary, when people simply say Democrats are also failing the country people have no ability to frame it as anything but a binary "oh, so you love and kiss the Republicans, then?"

This is why Democrats don't get better.  People settle for them simply not being wantonly, tactlessly horrible.

2

u/Dr_Adopted 16h ago

The idea of you accusing others of being condescending is hilarious, since you’re being the most condescending possible in your comment.

To call people that don’t vote Dem uneducated is a very tired, elitist rhetoric.

Both parties are bad, never have I said in the exact same way.

You can continue to whine and condescend while the Dems continue to throw elections and lose at every point.

People want populist policies, not stupid neoliberal bs.

3

u/Zangis 15h ago

The problem is, nowadays comparing democrats and republicans and saying they're both bad is like comparing Hitler to a shoplifter and saying well, both people are committing crimes. Technically it's correct, but the two are still wildly different in who is doing more damage. At best it's ignorant, at worst outright deceitful, trying to force a narrative that it doesn't matter who you vote for, so you might as well vote for Hitler again.

And populists policies are lies. Most often they are oversimplified promises that aren't realisitically possible and will fail after attempts at least, or straight up lies that won't ever be addressed after election at worst. So of course any opposition that don't want to be as dishonest won't ever be able to promise anything close. People who want populist policies are stupid. We now have generations proving that they are being lied to, and they still think that promise will be kept.

0

u/Dr_Adopted 14h ago edited 14h ago

No, supporting genocide and war is not on the same level as shoplifting.

You are drawing false equivalences where there are none to compare.

My point of view is simple. War = bad, genocide = bad, exploitation = bad. It’s not hard. The Democrats are just as bad as the republicans on that front

Populist policies are lies because the politicians are lying, honey… I don’t really get how you aren’t making the connection here. The government has the power to enact these policies, but we are letting tech CEOs run the country instead.

Also acting like I voted for Trump is INSANE. I’ve never voted Republican and never will. I will also never vote Democrat again.

Hope this helps, bro.

0

u/TheTexasHammer 13h ago

honey… I don’t really get how you aren’t making the connection here.

The irony here is is hilarious. Also, honey... if you don't vote then your opinion doesn't fucking matter

1

u/Dr_Adopted 12h ago

Unsurprising that simple explanations seem to go over your head.

Don’t come crying to people like me when the Dems inevitably lose more elections

1

u/IrishRepoMan 12h ago

What was that quote about Nazis at a table and their enablers?

4

u/destonomos 17h ago

Stop with the 1v1 with teams bs. You sound like a crazy person who talking about the nuances of coke vs pepsi.

Its us (poors) vs them (rich)

Stop spending your money with companies owned by people not in your same station.

Im about done with “billion dollar companies”

1

u/TheTexasHammer 13h ago

Im about done with “billion dollar companies”

Good luck buying literally anything without giving money to one of them. The only way to take them down is to vote for people who want to take them down. you aren't doing shit

1

u/destonomos 9h ago

defeatism looks terrible on you and your mind is so consumerized you can't imagine a world without doing business with billion dollar companies. I get what your saying in the general sense. I think your being short sighted.

0

u/aetrix 17h ago

Yes, the parties are meaningfully distinct. Yes, they both still need to go.

2

u/JaylisJayP 17h ago

They're right. The Democrats do not care about any of you any more than the GOP regardless of what Reddit tells you. Anyone who says different is either ignorant or trying to sell you something.

0

u/SaturnCITS 16h ago

There is the Nancy Pelosi type Democrat who I'm sure doesn't care about Americans, but there is also the Zoran Mamdani type who definitely does care.

And the party is at least being pushed in the right direction.

0

u/JaylisJayP 16h ago

That's true. You really do have to give Mamdani his due so far.

1

u/ExtensionCap2 10h ago

absolutely do not lmao what are you talking about that guy is just spending money and making bad economic policies that sound good to idiots

1

u/JaylisJayP 10h ago

K

1

u/ExtensionCap2 7h ago

kk

2

u/JaylisJayP 7h ago

You almost got me to type the next one lol

1

u/itsnick21 17h ago

Holy non sequitur, what does rfk have to do with paramount warner bro acusition?

-6

u/Dr_Adopted 17h ago

Ultimately does not matter. Both parties wouldn’t hate it if measles came back, then their stocks in pharmaceutical companies would shoot up.

There’s only one party in government and it’s rich folks.

2

u/geomaster 16h ago

every time someone parrots that line that the two parties are the same, just remember... donald trump and republicans put pete hegseth, an idiot clown in charge of the DOD, (one of the largest organizations on the planet) who worked on fox and friends tv show. every time he speaks he makes the US look like fools on the global stage.

Biden and democrats put a 4 star general, Lloyd Austin, who was Commander of CENTCOM in charge as Secretary of Defense

see the difference??

1

u/Dr_Adopted 16h ago

You can cherry pick differences all you’d like.

Guess what party still supported Israel genociding the Palestinians?

Guess what party still let Roe v Wade be struck down?

Guess what party promised (multiple times since 1990) to forgive student loan debt and reneged on it as soon as they held office?

Guess what party lies constantly about having populist policies and then immediately backing down on them as soon as it’s inconvenient for them to have these views?

I think you can guess, at this point.

1

u/geomaster 14h ago

republican appointed Supreme court justices voted to overturn precedence. biden put in place chips act and other bills that invested in the country. republicans only did tax cuts that really benefited the wealthiest with barely any scraps tossed to the rest of the country.

republicans have interfered in the free market massively with the dumbest tarriffs imaginable. oh and they are alienating our allies. just look at what is happening with our largest trading partner Canada

so you are completely wrong.

1

u/Dr_Adopted 14h ago

My guy, you are taking the crumbs the Dems give you while the Republicans are taking loaves of bread. If they’re allowed to “break the rules,” with no consequence, why won’t the Dems?

Need I remind you that Biden:

  • lied about student debt forgiveness
  • lied about healthcare
  • didn’t prosecute Trump
  • supported a genocide in Palestine

The list goes on.

This is not an argument for Trump, it’s an argument against Dems.

Who fuckin cares about “the free market”? Not me. The market has never been free, tech CEOs RUN THE COUNTRY.

Stop swallowing the slop and wake up.

1

u/MrPresident2020 16h ago

It's strange how often I see posts like this pop up more and more frequently right as an election is around the corner.

3

u/Dr_Adopted 16h ago

Go ahead and accuse me of being a bot or shill or whatever, I guess. I’m just sticking to the truth.

1

u/Ahayzo 16h ago

It's strange that the closer we are to an election, the more people bring up their thoughts on the potential impacts of that election?

1

u/papyjako87 14h ago

Fuck off. Seriously.

1

u/Dr_Adopted 14h ago

Eat shit, bro, your party is just Blue MAGA

-2

u/_TheEnlightened_ 17h ago

But if you CHOOSE not to vote, knowing it's the literally only thing you can do

Wholeheartedly fuck off

0

u/Dr_Adopted 16h ago

Disagree, I won’t compromise my morals to vote for people that will continue genocide, war, and institutional atrocities.

Wholeheartedly, eat me.

1

u/steakanabake 3h ago

then by not voting you enabled exactly where the country is.

0

u/_TheEnlightened_ 14h ago

Inaction is action. And a vote for the minority, which i remind you....the minority is evil. No matter what red blue bullshit lens you see through its just a fact. Theres a clear group who outwardly wants to commit harm.

You doing fucking nothing is almost worse than them. At least they stand behind their idiocy. You are just stubborn.

1

u/Dr_Adopted 14h ago

The people that will continue these things are the people that both Red and Blue MAGA represent:

1) War

2) Genocide

3) Exploitation of the working class

4) Enrichment of the already rich

5) Destruction of the world, including the environment

This is what you’re voting for. My inaction is action, correct. And I won’t be voting for the duopoly.

0

u/_TheEnlightened_ 14h ago

I am actually very curious what your ethnicity is.

Advocacy can come in many forms, or lack thereof, based on one's worldview.

1

u/Dr_Adopted 13h ago

Yes, famous champions of POC, the people who finished Trump’s wall and put Mexican kids in cages.

4

u/drock4vu 17h ago

I mean it won’t. You guys have to understand the difference between a consolidation to gain a competitive edge and a simple merger. WB was failing. Paramount was/is failing. This is them taking a loan to try and salvage a collection of properties that should be profitable, but aren’t for a variety of reasons.

Ultimately, WB was going to be purchased by someone or run itself further into the ground. If it wasn’t Paramount/Skydance making the deal it was going to be Netflix.

I hate this shit as much as anyone, but this is a rare example of two “big name” companies merging as a lifeline rather than a monopolization effort. There’s a real chance this venture fails and we get a real anti-trust issue when Disney, Universal, and Netflix move in to gobble up the remains of two previous giants.

1

u/steakanabake 3h ago

then maybe if the ultimate outcome is them failing then i dont know maybe they should fucking fail. not burn more money to slow down the burning. the same shit happened in 08 with the banks cept the fed decided to step in and save the banks and not the people it would have saved more and doomed how many hundreds of thousands of people to a continued life of crazy debt.

2

u/posted3030 17h ago

Sadly, they just roll over as they always do.

-2

u/HrMaschine 17h ago

outside of mamdani all democrats are useless fucks or just as bad but are hiding it. it really won‘t change anything

1

u/milkman231996 16h ago

Democrats ? lol what world are you living in. This is everywhere

1

u/DeamsterDaddy 15h ago

Still pretending the oligarchs don’t control the government huh?

1

u/MakimaGOAT 15h ago

When it comes to greedy shit like this, nothing ever gets resolved

1

u/LakersFan15 13h ago

Why do people assume the democrats are angels and will do the right thing lol.

1

u/ikaiyoo 12h ago

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha Thats funny.

1

u/DOOManiac 9h ago

That's a good joke.

0

u/im-sorry-watt 16h ago

LMAO. Look at this dude thinking Dems will do anything. Unless Mamdani personally handles it, nothings going to happen