The Warner Bros. Thread | Will NOT merge with Paramount...capitalism is still terrible

[dallas]

2 minutes ago, Speedorito said:

 

Yes, that's what happened. 

[El Gato]

41 minutes ago, WittyUsername said:

FFS, where is the Justice Department in all this? 

I do t think they’d have a reason to stop this merger. WB/Paramount would still have a ton of competition and their value is less than Disney and Universal nevermind Netflix or Amazon. If anything these two need the merger 

[dallas]

If they weren't going to stop the Disney/Fox merger, they definitely aren't going to stop this.

[Porthos]

1 hour ago, dallas said:

"Paramount is under enormous pressure to find a strategic partner or buyer, as it's staring down a mountain of debt."

 

20 minutes ago, dallas said:

I'm not saying he isn't without his faults, but you don't fix a company [ED: WB] $50B in debt without getting your hands dirty. He's been thrown into a lose-lose situation. 

 

 

Perhaps you can explain to me how WB fixes its debt problem by taking on the debt of yet another company.

[Porthos]

45 minutes ago, WittyUsername said:

FFS, where is the Justice Department in all this? 

 

Even in this social media poisoned instant gratification age, generally speaking the government doesn't immediately rush out to comment on random rumors.

 

Well, folks Not Named Trump, that is.  The Justice Department would only get involved when there is an actual merger in place to be reviewed.

 

Cart.  Horse.  Before.  That sort of thing.

[Morieris]

24 minutes ago, dallas said:

Grace Randolph said its because WB wants Nickelodeon. You can decide whether you believe her, but it seems plausible. It was also stated in the initial article that Paramount is under a ton of financial pressure to merge with a partner company, so there's that. 

 

If the Disney/Fox merger didn't let Disney buy the news network, would they let them get Nickelodeon when they own Cartoon Network / Boomerang, or is the government not concerned about who owns multiple cartoon channels?

[dallas]

6 minutes ago, Porthos said:

 

 

 

Perhaps you can explain to me how WB fixes its debt problem by taking on the debt of yet another company.

Warner Bros is paying off its debt at a decent pace. Acquiring Paramount would be a minor setback at first, but would inevitably work out in the long run (assuming the deal goes through).

[Scubasteve716]

6 minutes ago, Porthos said:

 

 

 

Perhaps you can explain to me how WB fixes its debt problem by taking on the debt of yet another company.

Not who you’re responding to but the amount of debt WBD has paid off since they became a company (20ish months) is about the same amount of debt Paramount has. Debt is really not much of a problem to WBD and will be even less of a problem in 16 months which would probably be about when the deal would close if it happens. 

[Scubasteve716]

7 minutes ago, Morieris said:

 

If the Disney/Fox merger didn't let Disney buy the news network, would they let them get Nickelodeon when they own Cartoon Network / Boomerang, or is the government not concerned about who owns multiple cartoon channels?

Would think government cares more about news channels than they do about cartoon channels 

[dallas]

Yeah I'm sure the government isn't concerned with who has the most cartoons lol

[MovieMan89]

I think this would have happened last year already if TGM hadn’t been such a shocker juggernaut for them. But this year I think showed all the other big studios it was very much an anomaly and Paramount is still ripe for the picking

[dallas]

3 minutes ago, Scubasteve716 said:

Not who you’re responding to but the amount of debt WBD has paid off since they became a company (20ish months) is about the same amount of debt Paramount has. Debt is really not much of a problem to WBD and will be even less of a problem in 16 months which would probably be about when the deal would close if it happens. 

Yep. I don't think debt will be as big of a concern as people think it will. 

[Porthos]

2 minutes ago, dallas said:

Warner Bros is paying off its debt at a decent pace. Acquiring Paramount would be a minor setback at first, but would inevitably work out in the long run (assuming the deal goes through).

 

1 minute ago, Scubasteve716 said:

Not who you’re responding to but the amount of debt WBD has paid off since they became a company (20ish months) is about the same amount of debt Paramount has. Debt is really not much of a problem to WBD and will be even less of a problem in 16 months which would probably be about when the deal would close if it happens. 

 

I am commenting about Zaslav Doing "A Ton of Unpopular Things"/"Getting His Hands Dirty" because he had a "mountain of debt" to pay off to immediately turn around and add another "mountain of debt" while he is still doing unpopular things to get out from under the obligations of the initial merger WB/Discovery.

 

Interest rates are forecasted to go down, but not that much! 

 

It might, might be one thing to immediately break out the proverbial credit card once one has cleared the books.  But if WB is presently in "a mountain of debt", if a lesser one than before, I don't think it is out of bounds to note the irony, never mind wisdom, of saddling on even more debt to the balance books.

[Johnny Tran]

Why is everyone in here freaking out?   WB and Paramount are similar in a lot of ways.  This isn't close to the disaster that was Disney buying FOX properties.  

 

All of your beloved Paramount franchises would live on with WB.  

[MovieMan89]

3 minutes ago, Johnny Tran said:

Why is everyone in here freaking out?   WB and Paramount are similar in a lot of ways.  This isn't close to the disaster that was Disney buying FOX properties.  

 

All of your beloved Paramount franchises would live on with WB.  

It’s harmless as far as all the huge entertainment acquisitions of recent years go. We should be thanking our lucky stars Disney is in the gutter right now or I can promise they’d be gunning for them by now. Which would be a million times worse for the industry. 

[dallas]

And I don't mean to imply that Zaslav is a saint or anything. He's definitely far from it. I just don't think he's as terrible as everyone thinks he is. You're free to disagree, that's fine. This is just my opinion, after all 

[dallas]

2 minutes ago, MovieMan89 said:

It’s harmless as far as all the huge entertainment acquisitions of recent years go. We should be thanking our lucky stars Disney is in the gutter right now or I can promise they’d be gunning for them by now. Which would be a million times worse for the industry. 

Agreed. I'd rather WB get Paramount than Disney.

[Porthos]

Gonna put my prior post a different way.

 

I think the refrain "Capitalism will kill us faster than the virus", while chuckleworthy, is pretty much flat out incorrect.

 

(Sorry, Eric)

 

But I do agree that I have a special disdain for Vulture Venture Capitalists and CEOs who think like the worst of Venture Capitalists out there.  They are the ones who are doing their damndest to ride us all into hell. And as such I do think Zaslav has earned almost all of the criticism that has been directed his way and will earn a decent amount of criticism if he does indeed pursue a risky proposition like this one.

 

(and calling it "risky" is about the nicest I can be about it)

[WittyUsername]

8 minutes ago, Johnny Tran said:

Why is everyone in here freaking out?   WB and Paramount are similar in a lot of ways.  This isn't close to the disaster that was Disney buying FOX properties.  

 

All of your beloved Paramount franchises would live on with WB.  

Corporate mergers are typically bad no matter what. 

[Scubasteve716]

8 minutes ago, Porthos said:

 

 

I am commenting about Zaslav Doing "A Ton of Unpopular Things"/"Getting His Hands Dirty" because he had a "mountain of debt" to pay off to immediately turn around and add another "mountain of debt" while he is still doing unpopular things to get out from under the obligations of the initial merger WB/Discovery.

 

Interest rates are forecasted to go down, but not that much! 

 

It might, might be one thing to immediately break out the proverbial credit card once one has cleared the books.  But if WB is presently in "a mountain of debt", if a lesser one than before, I don't think it is out of bounds to note the irony, never mind wisdom, of saddling on even more debt to the balance books.

I’m purely speaking in regards to the “mountain of debt” thing. You are not in a “mountain of debt” if you’ve paid off 25% of it in 18 months and have a positive EBIDTA. You’re in a mountain of debt if it is going the other way.