David Ellison’s Media Takeover Just Got Greenlit

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Ed Elson (1:47)

Welcome to Prof G Markets. I'm Ed Elson. It is September 22nd. Let's check in on yesterday's market vitals.

The major indices all rose as oil prices fell and optimism grew ahead of talks between Xi Jinping and Trump. The Nasdaq hit its first record since June. Oil posted its longest losing streak since June. That also sent treasury yields down. And finally, AMD hit an all-time high and became the seventh chip stock to reach a trillion dollar market cap as renewed excitement around AI demand lifted semiconductor stocks.

Okay, what else is happening? The Paramount Warner Bros. Discovery saga may finally be coming to an end. It has now been over a year since Paramount made its first bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. But a lawsuit filed jointly by 12 state attorneys general has been holding up the transaction. Today that lawsuit was settled. Despite the wishes of the state AGs that brought the suit, Paramount will not have to sell off any of its cable assets. Instead, the company has reportedly agreed that it won't leave California, committing to keep its studio lots in place and put $1.5 billion into local production. Paramount will also need to set up independent editorial boards for its news properties. Paramount stock popped 7% on the news, but end of the day down 3%, Warner Bros. Discovery stock increased 11%.

So, for latest on this never-ending Paramount WBD deal, we are speaking with Rohan Goswami, business reporter at Semafor. Rohan, thank you for joining us on Prof G Markets. It looks as though this is finally going through. You predicted that it would go through on this show. Seems like you're going to be right. What do you make of what's happened here?

Rohan Goswami (3:37)

I'm terribly sad that we're going to have to find a new reason for us to hang out.

But I am happy that my prediction was vindicated. Look, this is an unmitigated victory for David Ellison, and it's being seen as such on the left, which of course fought really aggressively to stop this, and on the right. And I think actually the fact that Paramount's stock is down 3% is a reflection that, yes, the states have secured in the short term some guarantees that will take away some of the synergies that Ellison and Co. had been hoping for, but if you look at what the states actually got, as you pointed out, nothing structural. The most onerous thing they're going to have to deal with is a $30 million penalty if they come up short of the 30-film production guarantee that they've agreed to with the states. Now, of course, you and I both know that $30 million is not really that much on a per-film basis. Most films are way more expensive than that, so it actually may be cheaper for Paramount to break its promises around that. Now, what is noteworthy, and I think what a lot of attorneys general cared about, were those editorial protections around CNN and CBS. Of course, that was a big concern in the media, in the United States, about whether Ellison, right, whose family is known to be close to the president, would exercise a degree of influence over CNN or CBS, right, the way that Barry Weiss has certainly been seen to be doing at the latter.