from the growth-for-growth’s-sake dept
More than 1,000 top Hollywood professionals ranging from Glenn Close to Denis Villeneuve have signed off on a new letter opposing the merger between Larry Ellison’s Paramount/CBS and Warner Brothers, warning that the massive $111 billion deal will result in unprecedented layoffs at a time when Hollywood, and American consumers, are already reeling from layoffs and higher costs.
“This transaction would further consolidate an already concentrated media landscape, reducing competition at a moment when our industries—and the audiences we serve—can least afford it,” the authors wrote. “The result will be fewer opportunities for creators, fewer jobs across the production ecosystem, higher costs, and less choice for audiences in the United States and around the world. Alarmingly, this merger would reduce the number of major U.S. film studios to just four.”
As we’ve noted previously, the massive combined debt created between the Skydance/CBS merger and the upcoming Warner Brothers merger would cause unprecedented layoffs across Hollywood, despite David Ellison’s repeated false claims to the contrary.
As we’ve seen with similar mergers (including every big merger Warner has ever been involved with) the pointless consolidation is also guaranteed to raise prices, erode media diversity, degrade journalism, and result in an overall lower quality product. That’s before you even get to the perils of Saudi and Chinese financing, or Larry Ellison’s ideological ties to the Donald Trump authoritarian movement.
Ellison’s over-extension on AI, and the unprecedented debt load from his media ambitions, could easily combine to result in financial headaches that would make past Warner Brothers mergers, including the disastrous AT&T ownership period, seem quaint.
With Trump corruption ensuring no meaningful federal review of the deal (despite ongoing pretense by his DOJ), the most likely avenue for a blockade of the deal would come courtesy of a lawsuit by a coalition of states attorneys general, likely led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
“We are grateful for their leadership, and stand ready to support all efforts to preserve competition, protect jobs, and ensure a vibrant future for our industry, for American culture, and for our single most significant export,” the authors note.
Filed Under: consolidation, creatives, david ellison, high prices, hollywood, larry ellison, layoffs, merger, streaming, video
Companies: paramount, warner bros.
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