Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount CEOs hold exploratory merger talks

Warner chief executive David Zaslav, left, and Shari Redstone, who controls Paramount. US media groups are struggling to improve their profitability after waging a ‘streaming war’ against Netflix

Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount Global are in early talks to merge, in a media deal that would combine the owner of HBO and CNN with the studio behind the Mission Impossible films and CBS News. 

Warner chief executive David Zaslav and Paramount chief Bob Bakish discussed a possible deal over lunch at Paramount’s offices in New York this week, according to three people familiar with the matter. The talks were at an early stage and a deal might not materialise, these people cautioned.