BENGALURU (March 26): Warner Bros Discovery said on Thursday shareholders will vote on its planned US$110 billion (RM439.34 billion) merger with Paramount Skydance on April 23, bringing the companies a step closer to completing the deal that would reshape the media landscape. Paramount has bet on closing the deal quickly, promising to pay Warner Bros shareholders a 25-cent-per-share quarterly "ticking fee" starting in October if the deal has not closed. The merger, the latest of several consolidations in the media sector, will solidify chief executive officer David Ellison's status as one of the industry's most influential studio owners after he also steered Skydance's US$8.4 billion purchase of Paramount. Analysts have viewed Paramount as facing an easier road to regulatory approval in part because of Ellison's father, billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison's ties with US President Donald Trump. However, an acting assistant attorney general for the US Department of Justice's antitrust division, Omeed Assefi, told Reuters that the deal will "absolutely not" have a fast track to approval because of political factors.

Source: The Edge Markets March 26, 2026 13:29 UTC