Sept 11 (Reuters) - Paramount Skydance PSKY.O is preparing a majority cash bid for Warner Bros Discovery WBD.O that is backed by the Ellison family, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the situation.
Shares of Warner Bros surged nearly 30% while Paramount was up 7% after the news. A bid has not yet been submitted and the plans could still fall apart, WSJ said.
Paramount declined to comment while Warner Bros did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The bid will be for the entire company, including its cable networks and movie studio, the report said. The news comes just weeks after David Ellison’s company Skydance bought Paramount Global for $8.4 billion PSKY.O.
David Ellison is the son of billionaire Larry Ellison, whose 40% stake in cloud giant Oracle ORCL.N has propelled him to No. 2 on the global billionaires list. A long-time ally of U.S. President Donald Trump, Larry Ellison is likely to leverage his formidable wealth as well as political heft in Washington to close such a deal.
