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.
