Paramount Faces $650 Million Quarterly Merger Fee as Warner Bros. Discovery Deal Delay Deepens
Updated
Updated · Hollywood Reporter · Aug 21
Paramount Faces $650 Million Quarterly Merger Fee as Warner Bros. Discovery Deal Delay Deepens
3 articles · Updated · Hollywood Reporter · Aug 21
Summary
$650 million per quarter in additional merger consideration will hit Paramount starting Oct. 1 if its deal with Warner Bros. Discovery remains unclosed, a cost the report says equals nearly $7 million a day.
Paramount has estimated the ticking fee could reach about $1.3 billion by the completion of post-trial briefing, turning merger delay into a major cash drain before any integration begins.
The report argues that money spent on delay would be better used to finance and release films, warning that prolonged uncertainty can postpone greenlights for big-budget movies that take years to reach theaters.
Phoenix Theatres owner Cory Jacobson says exhibitors depend on a stable studio pipeline and backs Paramount's pledge of at least 30 theatrical releases a year, preferably extended from three years to five.
U.S. theaters are still about 8% below 2019 levels, and the piece contends that blocking or dragging out the merger could leave cinemas with fewer major films and slower recovery.