Larry Ellison has succeeded in fusing Paramount and Warner Brothers in a $110 billion merger that will culminate in mass layoffs, higher prices, lower-quality product, and news outlets like CNN becoming even more friendly to corporate power and the U.S. right wing. They’ve renamed the entire giant company Skydance. The bigger Skydance will be born with a giant weight tied around its neck in the form of $82 billion in debt.
The Ellisons, who are incredibly over-extended on AI, have to manage that debt load while trying to adapt to a quickly shifting entertainment industry. It’s simply not going to end well because gigantic “growth for growth’s sake” mergers never end well, particularly when Warner Brothers is involved. Every single major deal involving this company resulted in mass layoffs and shittier overall product.
Despite a last-ditch attempt by a weak coalition of 12 state AGs to actually enforce antitrust law, the Democratic deal opposition lacked the backbone to stand up to Larry Ellison’s relentless lobbying. Establishment Republicans love the deal because it cements more media into the hands of the right wing.
From there, as we saw with AT&T, you’ll start to see all manner of promising projects cancelled. You’ll also quickly see even higher prices and new and annoying restrictions imposed on the content.
Source: Hacker News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing