Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD)

📈 WBD (Warner Bros. Discovery) is currently being acquired by Paramount Skydance Corp (PSKY) in an all-cash deal worth $31.00 per share — roughly $81 billion in equity value, ~$110 billion enterprise value. This is not a standard "buy the media company, wait for operating growth" story — it is a merger-arbitrage situation, where the current share price (~$25-26) trades primarily on the odds and timing of the deal closing, not purely on day-to-day operating performance.

Paramount's offer beat out an earlier Netflix bid ($27.75/share, for the film/TV studio plus HBO/HBO Max only, following a planned separation of Discovery Global). WBD's board deemed Paramount's offer superior on February 26, 2026; Netflix declined to raise its bid and withdrew.

Business Segments

• ✅ Streaming (HBO Max) — the core growth engine. 140m+ global subscribers, +14% YoY, ahead of company guidance; management is targeting 150m+ subscribers by year-end 2026.
• ⚠️ Global Linear Networks (cable — CNN, TNT Sports, Discovery+, Bleacher Report) — in structural decline: revenue -9% ex-FX, domestic pay-TV subscribers -10%, ad revenue -12% ex-FX.
• 📈 Studios — a strong quarter for film/TV (+58% TV revenue ex-FX), though games revenue fell -30% ex-FX.

Before the M&A process took over, WBD was already mid-plan to split into two separate companies — "Warner Bros." (studios + HBO Max streaming, led by David Zaslav) and "Discovery Global" (linear/cable networks, led by Gunnar Wiedenfels). That split plan is now superseded by the Paramount acquisition as the base case — if the deal were to fail, the separation plan could plausibly be revived.

Management

David Zaslav remains President & CEO of WBD through the transition period. No material insider buying/selling activity by management surfaced during this research — any developments will be reflected in future updates.

❌ Shariah Compliance Status

Per the Zoya reference dataset (zoya_us_stock_reference), WBD's Shariah status is NON_COMPLIANT. This means WBD is not a suitable holding for investors prioritizing a Shariah-screened portfolio — treat this content as general market education, not an investment recommendation for Shariah-conscious investors.

The Q2 2026 report (released 6 August 2026) was the last meaningful quarterly result before WBD was acquired. After the 6 October 2026 closing, WBD filed to end its SEC registration, so further public financial reports are not expected.

Gross debt was $33.1B, net debt $29.7B, net leverage 3.4x. At closing, WBD repaid all loans and terminated commitments under two credit agreements, and the debt guarantee moved to the combined entity.

WBD paid no regular cash dividend before the acquisition. Shareholders received a single final cash payment of $31.0167 per share at the 6 October 2026 closing: the $31.00 base price plus ticking consideration of $0.00277778 per calendar day after 30 September 2026.

No new shares were offered and no public CVR for common shareholders has been reported.