Warner Bros. Discovery’s CEO pitched employees on its impending Paramount Skydance deal, after spending the last few months arguing against it in favor of the now-nixed Netflix deal.
David Zaslav told WBD staffers at a company town hall on Friday morning that he’s excited to join forces with Paramount.
“Together, we can be a great company,” Zaslav said on the call, a recording of which was obtained by Business Insider.
“It’s not easy, but we’re getting bigger, and we’re getting stronger,” he said. “And you guys are the envy of everyone in this business.”
Paramount was persistent in the WBD chase
WBD had agreed to sell its studio and HBO assets to Netflix for $27.75 per share. Paramount launched a rival bid of $30 per share for the whole company, including its cable TV networks, and pitched WBD shareholders that its deal was better. The David Ellison-run company also agreed to pay a so-called “ticking fee” of 25 cents per share, or about $650 million, for every quarter that its proposed WBD acquisition doesn’t close.
Zaslav said that the decision to switch from its Netflix deal to Paramount’s rival offer “all happened very quickly.”
“For even us, the speed — it feels a little whiplash-y,” Zaslav said, adding that he and WBD’s board of directors are still “getting our bearings.”
Paramount “acted with determination” in pursuing WBD, said Bruce Campbell, WBD’s chief revenue and strategy officer.
WBD underwent a “thorough, rigorous strategic review process” and was under a legal obligation to continue to review and evaluate unsolicited offers that could bring shareholders more value, Campbell said.
A Paramount-Warner Bros. combo could form a rival to tech titans
Zaslav suggested that teaming up with Paramount is crucial to WBD’s survival.
“If Warner Bros. is going to survive, then we needed to be bigger, and we needed to be global,” Zaslav said.
Zaslav added that “some of these companies are getting so big that they can just run us over.” YouTube-parent Alphabet, for instance, had $402 billion in revenue last year compared to WBD’s $37.3 billion, and YouTube is now the most-watched streaming service on US TVs.
Buying WBD would give Paramount control of HBO Max and Discovery+ in addition to Paramount+, Pluto TV, and BET+. WBD’s streamers had a 1.4% share on US TVs in January, compared to 2.3% for Paramount, according to Nielsen. Even together, that would be well below Netflix’s mark of 8.8% and YouTube’s 12.5% share.
Size-wise, WBD had 131.6 million streaming subscribers across HBO Max and Discovery+, as of last quarter. Paramount+ registered 78.9 million paid subscribers at the end of 2025.
Paramount would also be adding WBD’s cable assets, which include CNN, TNT, and HGTV. Ellison’s company already has the CBS broadcast network and cable channels like MTV and VH1.
Zaslav mentioned that CNN would have “the opportunity to work with CBS News” in this deal, though he didn’t elaborate on details. It’s not clear how a tie-up would affect CNN. WBD didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Paramount also didn’t respond. On the call, Zaslav praised CNN’s recent work covering ICE in Minnesota, saying that CNN’s journalists “had a huge impact on everybody in America and had an influence on what happened in there in Minneapolis.”
Ellison installed Bari Weiss, who started The Free Press, as the top editor at CBS News last fall. Her hiring has not been without controversy, and some have questioned whether she brings a political bias. Weiss has insisted that she’s not a mouthpiece for anyone.
Ellison’s WBD dream isn’t a done deal yet
The Paramount-WBD deal still needs regulatory approval in the US and abroad, a process Zaslav said may take six to 18 more months.
“The deal may not close,” Zaslav said. “If it doesn’t close, we get $7 billion, and we get back to work,” he added, referring to the breakup fee Paramount agreed to pay if the deal doesn’t get regulatory approval.
A White House spokesperson told Business Insider last week that the president had “great relationships with all parties in this potential transaction and remains neutral in this process with no preference” for Netflix or Paramount.
A few days later, President Donald Trump called out comments from Netflix board member Susan Rice. She criticized his presidency and companies that she said bowed to him. Trump called for her to be taken off Netflix’s board, or said the streaming powerhouse would “pay the consequences.”
This week, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos had meetings at the White House on Thursday before his company declined to raise its bid for Warner Bros. Sarandos had said it was “not a political deal.”
Trump, meanwhile, has said that David Ellison, Paramount’s CEO and the son of Oracle cofounder Larry Ellison — a major Trump supporter — was “great” and was doing a “great job.”
A White House spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the proposed deal.
Last week, WBD’s board told its shareholders that there could be an employee exodus if it took Paramount’s deal, citing the $6 billion in cost savings that Ellison’s company planned to achieve. Netflix had said it planned to get $2 billion to $3 billion in savings from its deal.
Zaslav didn’t mention any potential job cuts or reorganizations from the Paramount deal on the all-hands call with employees on Friday.
