WARNER BROS DISCOVERY VOTE TO APPROVE $110BN MERGER WITH PARAMOUNT SKYDANCE:
Shareholders of Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) voted “overwhelmingly” to approve the company’s $110bn merger with Paramount Skydance, the parent company of CBS News, on Thursday.
But shareholders voted against generous proposed compensation packages for WBD executives, including a $550m payout to the outgoing chief executive, David Zaslav.
The boards of both WBD and Paramount have already approved the merger, and shareholders were encouraged to approve it as well.
“Today’s stockholder approval is another key milestone toward completing this historic transaction that will deliver exceptional value to our stockholders,” Zaslav said in a statement. “We will continue to work with Paramount to complete the remaining steps in this process that will create a leading, next-generation media and entertainment company.”
A Paramount Skydance spokesperson said: “Shareholder approval marks another important milestone towards completing our acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, building on our successful equity and debt syndications and progress across regulatory approvals.
“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.”
Jane Fonda hardest hit: Jane Fonda Committee Condemns WBD Merger Shareholder Approval: ‘This Fight Is Far From Over.’
“Today’s decision by Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders to advance a merger with Paramount is a serious setback — for our industry, for the workers who sustain it, for consumers, and for the fundamental democratic values that depend on a diverse and independent media landscape,” a statement read. “But this merger is not a done deal — and this fight is far from over.”
“We’ve seen time and again that sustained pressure works. Efforts to challenge consolidation, from the proposed Tegna-Nexstar Media Group deal to scrutiny of Live Nation Entertainment and Ticketmaster, have demonstrated that coordinated legal, political, and public advocacy can change outcomes, especially when state Attorneys General step in to protect the public interest,” it continued. “We will continue pressing forward on every front.”
“We will keep speaking out for the workers and artists at the heart of this industry, and for the public, which deserves more than an ever-shrinking circle of control over what they see, hear, and read,” the message concluded. “This fight continues. And we fully intend to win.”
“A handful of powerful decision-makers should not be allowed to quietly reshape [a nation’s] media, culture, and creative life without accountability.” Past performance really is no guarantee of future results:
Meanwhile, another famous communist is also curiously against the increasing collectivization of the cinema wing of the leftist propaganda industry:
I never thought I’d support this merger but if Mamdani is against it, it must be good.
— Not the Bee (@Not_the_Bee) April 23, 2026