David Ellison Punts On Warner Bros. Discovery But Promises Any Deal Would Create “More, Not Less” For Hollywood
Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison declined to comment specifically on a possible bid for Warner Bros. Discovery but did offer a sense of his “mindset” in any deal — that bigger doesn’t have to be worse for the talent community.
“I think, ironically it was [WBD CEO] David Zaslav last year who said that consolidation in the media business is important. And the way we approach everything” is through the lens of what is good for the talent community, as well as what is good for our shareholders and value creation, and what is good for “storytelling at large,” he said at the Bloomberg Screentime conference in LA.
That goes for any combination, he stressed, making a point of noting that there are other opportunities out there. But with any deal, “We would approach it make more not less.”
“You actually need more content to yield engagement,” he said.
He declined to say when big cuts and layoffs at newly merged Paramount Skydance to realize well over $2 billion in savings are coming. But it will be sooner rather than later to enable to the company to look ahead.
News emerged recently that Paramount’s new owner is seriously exploring a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery only months after closing the drawn-out merger of Skydance and Paramount.
In a Q&A that touched on a range of topics from Bari Weiss at CBS to the film slat to truly integrating tech into Hollywood, a confident Ellison used the word “reinvigorate” often to a standing-room only crowd.
MORE
