On March 5, a week after inking a $111 billion deal, Paramount CEO David Ellison and Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav conspicuously lunched in the executive dining room on the Warner Bros. Studio lot, breaking bread over their megamerger that will reshape Hollywood.
Unlike December’s visit from Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters to the WB lot, no glamour photos were taken, but the public appearance of Ellison on his property-to-be underscores the new world order that is about to engulf the industry. The rich and powerful are poised to get richer and more powerful, and much of the rest of the industry is wondering what comes next.
The Paramount-Warners marriage is perhaps the quintessential example. A year ago, Ellison was the CEO of Skydance, a studio with a valuation of $4.75 billion. When this deal closes, he will control two of Hollywood’s legacy studios, an
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