Proposed Warner Bros-Paramount merger may result in streaming service to challenge Netflix

Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount Global -- two of the largest media and entertainment conglomerates in the world -- are in early talks for a merger.

Reuters reported yesterday that the CEOs of the companies, David Zaslav of Warner Bros Discovery and Bob Bakish of Paramount Global, met to discuss a potential deal.

These talks are happening in the aftermath of another merger in April 2022, when WarnerMedia, owned by AT&T, merged with Discovery to become Warner Bros Discovery. This relatively new entity currently owns media giants like Discovery Channel, Warner Bros. Entertainment, CNN, HBO (including HBO Max), and Cartoon Network.

On the other hand, Paramount Global controls major assets in the TV and movie industries, including Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, Miramax, CBS, MTV as well as a host of streaming platforms.

Axios reported that the meeting featured discussions of a possible merger between the streaming services of the two conglomerates, which would boast a catalogue that could challenge Netflix and Disney+.

Warner Bros has a portfolio of popular movies and series including the Harry Potter franchise, DC Comics and movies based on them, all of Christopher Nolan's movies until 2021, the Dune series, and the Mad Max franchise.

Paramount Global owns the Top Gun series, the Mission Impossible movies, The Godfather movies, the Transformers franchise, and many classics.

Paramount Global is the smaller of the two conglomerates, with a market cap of $10.5 billion. Warner Bros Discovery has a market cap of over $28 billion.