Paramount debt to hit $79 billion after Warner Bros deal, no plan to sell cable assets

By Harshita Mary Varghese

March 2 (Reuters) – The Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros Discovery merger will create a combined entity that would have a net debt of about $79 billion, Paramount said on Monday, ruling out any plan to divest or spinoff the cable assets.

The companies will fold their streaming services, including Paramount+ and HBO Max, into a single platform, Paramount CEO David Ellison said on a call with analysts.

Together the companies already serve more than 200  million direct-to-consumer subscribers in more than 100 regions, Ellison said, giving them the scale and firepower to better compete in a market dominated by Netflix.

Paramount signed the $110 billion, or $31-per-share, deal for Warner Bros early on Friday, after Netflix declined to raise its offer.

The acquisition is expected to save more than $6 billion in costs, with a big share coming from “non-labor sources” by clubbing streaming technology stacks and cloud providers of the companies, among others, Paramount strategy chief Andy Gordon said.

The savings target is much higher than Netflix’s promised synergy goal of as much as $3 billion and had sparked fears of layoffs and shrinking of TV and film production by the combined Warner-Paramount.

The merger will also unite Paramount’s CBS, MTV, Comedy Central and BET with Warner’s networks including CNN, TNT, and Food Network.

“By combining our linear businesses, we will expect to boost cash flow, drive efficiencies and help manage market pressures,” Ellison said.

The merged entity will have one of the industry’s deepest libraries of commercially proven intellectual property, uniting franchises such as “Game of Thrones”, “Mission Impossible”, “Harry Potter”, “Top Gun”, the DC Universe and “SpongeBob SquarePants”.

“HBO is a crown jewel in this business…it will continue to have the resources and independence to do what it does best at the same time,” Ellison said.

The Paramount deal is backed by $54 billion in debt commitments from Bank of America, Citigroup and Apollo.

This includes $39 billion of new debt and $15 billion to refinance Warner Bros existing bridge facility, Gordon said.

Warner Bros Discovery had a net debt of $29 billion, while Paramount had $10.36 billion at the end of last year.

Paramount shares were down about 1.6%.

THE LONG-DRAWN BIDDING CONTEST

The contest for Warner Bros’ studio and streaming assets heated up over months, with Paramount and Netflix trading rival takeover bids.

Netflix struck first, signing a deal early in December to buy those assets, excluding cable networks, for $27.75 per share, or $82.7 billion.

After Warner’s board deemed the Paramount proposal superior, Netflix stepped back from the high-stakes battle for assets, including DC Comics, HBO and HBO Max.

The Paramount-Warner Bros deal would also remove doubts surrounding the value and risk of the cable networks spinoff that Warner shareholders would have retained under the Netflix proposal, reducing one of the key variables that had added to doubts around Netflix’s bid.

The combined entity is expected to produce at least 30 theatrical films a year, while maintaining both Warner Bros and Paramount studios.

Paramount paid the $2.8  billion termination fee that Warner owed Netflix on Friday. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.

The acquisition is likely to easily win European Union antitrust approval, with any required divestments likely to be minor, Reuters reported on Friday, citing sources.

Paramount, led by David Ellison, son of billionaire Larry Ellison, has deep ties to the Trump administration, a factor some analysts said could help it secure more favorable regulatory treatment.

(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)