Paramount Skydance Corporation
Acquisitions
5
Major Deals Covered
$115.8B
Disclosed Deal Value
Paramount's largest disclosed acquisition here is Warner Bros. Discovery for $110.9B in 2026. This page covers 5 major deals from 2001 to 2026, each with its price where disclosed and the reason behind it.
| Company | Year | Price | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Warner Bros. Discovery | 2026 | $110.9B | Combine Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., Paramount+ and HBO Max, and CBS and CNN to gain scale against Netflix, Disney and Amazon. |
| CBS Corporation (Viacom-CBS merger) | 2019 | Undisclosed | The 2019 merger of Viacom and CBS Corporation was designed to reunite two media companies that shared common heritage under the Redstone family's National Amusements holding company, combining CBS's broadcast strength, retransmission consent cash flows, and news capabilities with Viacom's cable network portfolio and Paramount Pictures studio. Management argued that scale was essential to compete in the streaming era, as a combined company would have a broader content library, greater advertising revenue base, and stronger negotiating position with technology platform distributors. The merger also provided an unified platform for the streaming service that became Paramount+, combining CBS's live programming and sports rights with Viacom's entertainment content brands. |
| Pluto TV | 2019 | $340.0M | Viacom's January 2019 acquisition of Pluto TV for approximately $340 million represented an early and prescient recognition that the free, advertising-supported streaming television market would grow into a major consumer behavior and advertising revenue opportunity as streaming fatigue and subscription cost sensitivity emerged. Pluto TV's technology platform, curated live channel lineup, and growing user base offered Viacom a direct-to-consumer streaming asset at a cost far below what building a comparable platform from scratch would have required. The acquisition also provided Viacom with valuable data and technology infrastructure that could be applied to its broader streaming strategy. |
| DreamWorks SKG (live action) | 2006 | $1.6B | Paramount's 2005 acquisition of DreamWorks SKG for approximately $1.6 billion was intended to provide the studio with a premium content pipeline developed by Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, two of the most commercially successful creative forces in Hollywood. The deal was also expected to enhance Paramount's live-action production capabilities and provide access to DreamWorks' library of successful films. Management believed that combining DreamWorks' creative relationships with Paramount's distribution infrastructure would generate superior film economics. |
| BET Networks | 2001 | $3.0B | Viacom's 2001 acquisition of BET Networks for approximately $3 billion represented a strategic expansion into the African American media market, where BET had established itself as the dominant cable network serving Black audiences since its founding by Robert L. Johnson in 1980. The acquisition was expected to provide Viacom with a culturally differentiated cable brand that commanded strong advertiser interest in a demographic underserved by mainstream media. |
2026
$110.9B
Combine Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros., Paramount+ and HBO Max, and CBS and CNN to gain scale against Netflix, Disney and Amazon.
Agreed February 27, 2026 at $31 per share in cash; cleared by the DOJ and regulators in 68 jurisdictions and by a court-approved settlement with 12 state attorneys general.
Expected to close on October 6, 2026.
2019
The 2019 merger of Viacom and CBS Corporation was designed to reunite two media companies that shared common heritage under the Redstone family's National Amusements holding company, combining CBS's broadcast strength, retransmission consent cash flows, and news capabilities with Viacom's cable network portfolio and Paramount Pictures studio. Management argued that scale was essential to compete in the streaming era, as a combined company would have a broader content library, greater advertising revenue base, and stronger negotiating position with technology platform distributors. The merger also provided an unified platform for the streaming service that became Paramount+, combining CBS's live programming and sports rights with Viacom's entertainment content brands.
The all-stock re-merger created ViacomCBS, with annual revenue near $28 billion at the time, and enabled CBS All Access to relaunch as Paramount+ in March 2021. It also combined both companies' debt.
The ViacomCBS merger delivered mixed financial results in its first several years, with the combined company generating meaningful revenue operational efficiencies but struggling to achieve the streaming subscriber growth and profitability trajectory necessary to justify the leverage incurred in combining. The corporate rebrand to Paramount Global in 2022 aligned the company's identity with its most recognized brand assets, but the fundamental challenge of funding streaming investment while managing legacy decline was not resolved by the merger alone, ultimately leading to the Skydance combination as a subsequent capital and strategic solution.
2019
$340M
Viacom's January 2019 acquisition of Pluto TV for approximately $340 million represented an early and prescient recognition that the free, advertising-supported streaming television market would grow into a major consumer behavior and advertising revenue opportunity as streaming fatigue and subscription cost sensitivity emerged. Pluto TV's technology platform, curated live channel lineup, and growing user base offered Viacom a direct-to-consumer streaming asset at a cost far below what building a comparable platform from scratch would have required. The acquisition also provided Viacom with valuable data and technology infrastructure that could be applied to its broader streaming strategy.
Pluto TV became Paramount's free ad-supported streaming service and a key part of its Direct-to-Consumer segment.
Pluto TV is widely seen as one of Viacom's better streaming-era deals; in 2026 its technology was being unified with Paramount+.
2006
$1.6B
Paramount's 2005 acquisition of DreamWorks SKG for approximately $1.6 billion was intended to provide the studio with a premium content pipeline developed by Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, two of the most commercially successful creative forces in Hollywood. The deal was also expected to enhance Paramount's live-action production capabilities and provide access to DreamWorks' library of successful films. Management believed that combining DreamWorks' creative relationships with Paramount's distribution infrastructure would generate superior film economics.
The deal gave Paramount films such as Transformers (2007).
DreamWorks left Paramount in 2008 and later partnered with Disney; Paramount kept rights tied to Transformers, which became one of its largest franchises.
2001
$3.0B
Viacom's 2001 acquisition of BET Networks for approximately $3 billion represented a strategic expansion into the African American media market, where BET had established itself as the dominant cable network serving Black audiences since its founding by Robert L. Johnson in 1980. The acquisition was expected to provide Viacom with a culturally differentiated cable brand that commanded strong advertiser interest in a demographic underserved by mainstream media.
BET Networks significantly expanded Viacom's cable portfolio demographic reach and provided access to a loyal and commercially valuable viewer base that responded strongly to culturally specific programming. The brand's recognition and audience loyalty made it one of the more durable cable assets in the Viacom portfolio. BET's streaming expansion and the development of BET+ as a direct-to-consumer service contributed to Paramount's streaming portfolio diversity.
BET remains part of Paramount's cable portfolio and BET+ is part of the Direct-to-Consumer segment.
Under David Ellison, Paramount is pursuing about $3 billion of cost savings from the Skydance merger, unifying the Paramount+ and Pluto TV technology stacks, expanding the film slate from eight to 15 releases a year, and spending on sports such as UFC to lift Paramount+ retention. The largest growth move is the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery for $31 per share in cash, valuing WBD at about $110.9 billion.
Paramount Skydance makes money in three segments. TV Media, the largest, earns advertising on CBS and cable networks such as MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and BET, plus affiliate and retransmission fees paid by pay-TV distributors; it is shrinking as households cut the cord (Q2 2026 TV Media revenue fell 9% to $3.13 billion). Direct-to-Consumer earns subscription and advertising revenue from Paramount+, BET+ and the free ad-supported Pluto TV (Q2 2026 revenue up 9% to $2.47 billion). Filmed Entertainment earns theatrical, home entertainment and licensing revenue from Paramount Pictures and Skydance productions (Q2 2026 revenue up 16% to $1.31 billion). By revenue type, Q2 2026 split into $3.52 billion of affiliate and subscription, $1.96 billion of advertising, $1.30 billion of licensing and other, and $138 million of theatrical.
In 1994, Sumner Redstone's Viacom won a well-known, high-stakes 5-month bidding war against QVC Chairman Barry Diller, acquiring Paramount Communications for approximately $10 billion to unite Paramount Pictures and Simon & Schuster with MTV Networks.
In 1999, Viacom acquired CBS Corporation for approximately $35 billion in what was then the largest media merger in history, uniting CBS broadcast television and radio with Viacom's cable networks and film studios.
In 2006, Paramount Pictures acquired the live-action movie studio of DreamWorks SKG (founded by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen) for $1.6 billion, bringing major film franchises and producing partnerships into the Paramount fold.
In January 2019, Viacom acquired free streaming pioneer Pluto TV for $340 million in cash. The acquisition proved to be one of the most successful media transactions of the digital era, scaling Pluto TV into a global FAST streaming leader generating over $1 billion in annual advertising revenue.
In 2000, Viacom acquired Black Entertainment Television (BET) from founder Robert L. Johnson for approximately $3 billion, expanding Viacom's cultural reach and establishing BET as the leading media platform for African American audiences.
After being split into two separate publicly traded companies in 2006 by Sumner Redstone, CBS Corporation and Viacom Inc. officially reunified in December 2019 to create ViacomCBS (later rebranded as Paramount Global) to build necessary scale for the global streaming wars.
In 2024-2025, Skydance Media, led by David Ellison and backed by RedBird Capital and Larry Ellison, agreed to acquire National Amusements and merge Skydance with Paramount Global in an $8+ billion transaction, recapitalizing the historic media giant.
Paramount divested non-core assets to focus strictly on entertainment and pay down debt, including the sale of Simon & Schuster to KKR ($1.62B in 2023), CBS Radio to Entercom (2017), and well-known real estate assets including CBS Television City in Los Angeles ($750M) and the Black Rock CBS headquarters building in New York ($760M).
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