A history of Warner Bros – from old Hollywood to streaming era

Oct 6 (Reuters) – Paramount Skydance on Tuesday closed its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, forming an entertainment giant named Skydance and putting CEO David Ellison in charge of one of the world’s biggest media companies.

The deal brings together the studios behind “Mission: Impossible”, “Harry Potter” and DC Studios alongside major television and streaming networks such as CBS, CNN, Paramount+ and HBO Max – forming an expansive entertainment company spanning film, TV and news.

Here is a timeline from the founding of Time Inc and Warner Bros to the company’s latest developments:

Date Event

1923 Warner Bros was founded by brothers Harry,

Albert, Sam and Jack Warner as a film

studio in Hollywood. It revolutionized

cinema with the introduction of

synchronized sound in films

1969  Kinney National Company, a conglomerate

that later transitioned into media, buys

Warner Bros-Seven Arts and later spins off

its non-media businesses

1972 HBO is founded by Charles Dolan with

backing from Time. It is the first US

subscription-based cable network, offering

uncut, commercial-free movies and live

sports, pioneering premium cable television

1990 Time Inc merges with Warner Communications

in a $14 billion deal, hailed as a

“marriage of content and distribution”,

creating Time Warner, then the largest

media company in the world

1996  Time Warner merges with Turner

Broadcasting, gaining Cartoon Network, CNN,

TNT and a vast library of classic films

2000  Time Warner merges with AOL, forming AOL

Time Warner, the largest merger in history

at the time, aiming to marry traditional

and digital media

2002 AOL Time Warner merger begins to unravel as

AOL’s value collapses with the launch of an

SEC investigation, prompted by allegations

of accounting irregularities and inflated

revenue reports at AOL

2003 CEO Steve Case resigns from AOL Time Warner

2004 Time Warner sells Warner Music to a private

equity group led by Edgar Bronfman Jr. for

$2.6 billion

2009 Time Warner fully spins off Time Warner

Cable, which had already been partially

separated in 2007, ending its role in cable

distribution

2009  Time Warner spins off AOL 

2013 Time Warner spins off Time, its magazine

division, which includes Time, People,

Fortune and Sports Illustrated, marking its

formal exit from publishing

2016 AT&T announces acquisition of Time Warner

for $85 billion

2018 AT&T completes its acquisition of Time

Warner after regulator approval, renaming

it WarnerMedia

2021 AT&T announces it will spin off WarnerMedia

and merge it with Discovery Inc to create a

new standalone media company

2022 WarnerMedia and Discovery complete their

merger in a $43 billion deal

June 9, Warner Bros Discovery announces it will

2025 separate into two companies — one focusing

on streaming and studios businesses, while

the second will house its cable TV assets

October 21, Warner Bros Discovery’s board rejects a

2025 Paramount Skydance offer of nearly $60

billion, or $24 per share, a source

familiar with the matter exclusively tells

Reuters. The company says it is weighing a

potential sale amid interest from several

suitors

November Warner Bros Discovery’s board wants

18, 2025 Paramount Skydance to sweeten its bid to

$30 per share, valuing the company at

$74.34 billion, Axios reports

November Warner Bros Discovery receives preliminary

21, 2025 buyout bids from Paramount Skydance,

Comcast and Netflix — which were asked to

improve their offers

December 1, Warner Bros Discovery receives a second

2025 round of bids, including a mostly cash

offer from Netflix

December 4, Paramount Skydance accuses Warner Bros

2025 Discovery of running an unfair sale process

that favors Netflix over other bidders,

CNBC reports, citing a letter sent by the

newly merged media company

December 5, Netflix is in exclusive talks to buy Warner

2025 Bros Discovery’s film and television

studios along with its streaming assets

after offering $28 per share, a source says

December 5, Netflix agrees to buy Warner Bros

2025 Discovery’s film and TV studios and

streaming division for $72 billion, or

$27.75 per share

December 9, Paramount Skydance makes a hostile bid for

2025 Warner Bros Discovery in a deal valued at

$108.4 billion or $30 per share

December Warner Bros Discovery’s board rejects

17, 2025 Paramount Skydance’s hostile $108.4 billion

bid, saying it failed to provide adequate

financing assurances

December Paramount Skydance amends its offer to buy

23, 2025 Warner Bros Discovery to include a $40.4

billion personal guarantee from Larry

Ellison

January 7, Warner Bros Discovery rejects Paramount

2026 Skydance’s amended hostile bid despite

Larry Ellison’s guarantee

January 12, Paramount Skydance files lawsuit to force

2026 Warner Bros Discovery to disclose details

of its deal with Netflix and plans to

nominate directors to Warner Bros

Discovery’s board

January 20, Netflix amends its bid to an all‑cash offer

2026 for Warner Bros Discovery’s studio and

streaming units and secures unanimous

approval from the Warner Bros board without

increasing the $82.7 billion purchase price

January 22, Paramount Skydance extends its hostile

2026 tender offer for Warner Bros Discovery to

February 20, seeking more time to win

investors

February 3, US senators grill Netflix co-CEO Ted

2026 Sarandos at a hearing over how the

company’s acquisition of Warner Bros

Discovery would affect competition in the

entertainment industry

February 5, US President Donald Trump says he will stay

2026 out of the bidding war for Warner Bros

Discovery, a reversal from his comments

late last year

February Paramount Skydance revises

10, 2026 its $30-per-share all-cash offer for Warner

Bros, adding a 25-cent-per-share fee for

every quarter the transaction does not

close beyond December 31, 2026. Paramount

also says it will fund the $2.8 billion

termination fee Warner Bros owes Netflix if

the deal falls through

February Warner Bros rejects Paramount’s revised bid

17, 2026 and gives the Hollywood studio seven days

to see if it can come up with a better deal

to buy the owner of HBO Max and the “Harry

Potter” franchise

February Warner Bros Discovery says it is

24, 2026 considering a sweetened bid from Paramount

Skydance without disclosing the value of

the deal

February Warner Bros Discovery opens the door to

24, 2026   Paramount after its CEO, David Ellison,

raises the offer to $31 per share

February Netflix refuses to raise its offer for

26, 2026 Warner Bros after the coveted Hollywood

studio said Paramount Skydance’s revised

$31-a-share offer was superior to its

existing deal with the streaming giant

February Paramount pays the $2.80 billion

27, 2026 termination fee that Warner Bros owed

Netflix

February Warner Bros Discovery enters an agreement

27, 2026 to be acquired by Paramount Skydance at $81

billion in equity value, in a transaction

expected to close in the third quarter of

2026

April 23, Warner Bros Discovery shareholders back

2026 proposed merger with Paramount Skydance and

cast an advisory vote against executive

compensation plans tied to the deal

May 21, Wall Street banks led by JPMorgan increase

2026 the size of a loan package for Warner Bros

Discovery to over $10 billion as the media

company seeks to refinance debt ahead of

its planned merger with Paramount

June 5, California, New York and other US states

2026 prepare a lawsuit to block Paramount

Skydance’s acquisition of Warner Bros

Discovery

June 9, Britain’s competition regulator formally

2026 starts its review of Paramount Skydance’s

planned acquisition of Warner Bros

Discovery, after ending the first part of

its information-gathering process

June 12, The US Justice Department’s Antitrust

2026 Division clears Paramount Skydance’s

planned acquisition of Warner Bros

Discovery, saying it was unlikely to harm

competition or consumers

June 17, Chinese regulators clear the planned merger

2026 between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros

Discovery, according to a source familiar

with the decision

July 8, The Oregon attorney general’s office says

2026 Paramount will not close its acquisition of

Warner Bros before July 22, pushing the

deal’s expected closing timeline back by

another week.

 

July 13, California and 11 states sue to block

2026 Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros

Discovery, alleging the deal will lessen

competition in film distribution and cable

television, harming theaters and pay TV

distributors.

July 14, The Writers Guild of America sues to block

2026 Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros

Discovery, saying the deal will jeopardize

writers’ livelihoods and threaten the

health of US entertainment

July 20, Paramount must pause its acquisition of

2026 Warner Bros through August 3, a federal

judge rules after a California-led

coalition of states argued the merger would

irreparably harm competition

July 22, Paramount Skydance gets European Union

2026 antitrust approval for its deal to buy

Warner Bros Discovery after agreeing to

ditch a film distribution joint venture

with Universal Pictures

July 23, Paramount Skydance must pause its

2026 acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery

through August 17, a federal judge rules

August 6, Britain’s government and its competition

2026 watchdog clear Paramount’s acquisition of

Warner Bros Discovery after David Ellison

provided reassurances

August 17, Paramount Skydance asks a US judge to

2026 require a dozen states challenging its

acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery to

post a $1.88 billion bond to address the

costs of delay in completing a tie-up

August 18, Cinema United, a trade organization

2026 representing theater owners, appeals to

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and

Paramount Skydance to discuss settling the

lawsuit 

August 24, California Attorney General Rob Bonta

2026 cancels a meeting with Paramount

representatives to begin settlement talks

over the state’s lawsuit 

August 31, The State of California and 11 other states

2026 join the Writers Guild of America in urging

a federal court judge to deny Paramount

Skydance’s request for a $1.88 billion

bond 

September Paramount and 11 states seeking to block

18, 2026 its acquisition of Warner Bros can settle

as soon as this weekend, with independent

content monitoring of CNN among the terms

under discussion, sources familiar with the

matter tell Reuters

September Paramount Skydance has reached a settlement

21, 2026 with California and 11 other states that

had sued to stop its acquisition of Warner

Bros Discovery

September US District court Judge Araceli

30, 2026 Martínez-Olguín approves the settlement

with the 12 states, allowing Paramount to

close its $110 billion acquisition of

Warner Bros Discovery after a months-long

holdup

September Paramount names Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz as

30, 2026 co-CEO of the combined company 

October 6, Paramount Skydance completes its $110

2026 billion acquisition of Warner Bros

Discovery, forming Skydance and putting

David Ellison in charge of one of the

world’s biggest media companies

(Reporting by Anzar Mehraj, Jaspreet Singh and Anhata Rooprai in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Manya Saini and Sneha S K; Editing by Leroy Leo, Arun Koyyur, Shinjini Ganguli, Pooja Desai, Tasim Zahid, Maju Samuel and Devika Syamnath)