Axios reported that their sources stated that Warner Brothers Discovery and Paramount Global have held recent talks regarding a potential merger of their companies in the future.
It was reported that WBD CEO David Zaslav had a meeting with Paramount CEO Bob Bakish this past Tuesday in New York City, New York. It was also reported that the main topic of this talk was to gauge interest and the possibility of a merger between their companies.
Zaslav reportedly also recently had a talk with Paramount Chairwoman Shari Redstone about a potential merger deal as well. Redstone is currently also the President of National Amusements, who is the parent company of Paramount.
In regards to a potential merger, it was reported that this would not be one of equal partners due to WBD has a current market value of $29 billion while Paramount has a current market value of $10 billion.
It was reported that it is currently not known if WBD would potentially buy Paramount or its parent company for a potential merger sale but both options are currently on the table. WBD reportedly has recently hired bankers to explore this being a possibility for them.
In regards to the potential impact of a merger between WBD and Paramount to wrestling, WBD is the current wrestling television partner of AEW and has been in recent talks with AEW for a potential new TV deal. Besides AEW, WBD has also recently held talks with WWE regarding a potential TV deal for WWE RAW and also recently signed a deal with Micro Wrestling Federation for a new wrestling-based reality series. Paramount is the current parent network of CBS Ventures, who currently has a TV deal with Women of Wrestling for their WOW TV series.