Superman may be faster than a speeding bullet, but even he might have trouble keeping up with the big-time media deals that are going down.
Analysts at consulting firm PwC noted in a June study of the global media outlook that dealmakers kicked 2025 off with greater optimism before they ran into “unexpected policy shifts, unchanged regulatory environments and continued geopolitical uncertainty.
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“Nonetheless, many of the themes driving deals examined in our 2025 M&A outlook are expected to endure, such as the trend towards larger deals and the AI capital expenditure supercycle.”
The firm noted that while the volume of media-and-entertainment sector deals eased in the first half, deal values increased, primarily due to two megadeals: the merger of Charter Communications (CHTR)  and Cox Communications and AT&T’s (T)  acquisition of Lumen’s Mass Markets fiber internet connectivity business.
The media landscape is realigning and consolidating as companies seek to scale or adjust balance sheets toward growth engines to remain competitive, PwC said.
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Paramount reportedly making bid for Warner Bros.
The firm took note of the recently completed merger of Paramount and Skydance Media to create Paramount Skydance (PSKY)  and the announced split of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) .
“With ever-changing consumer sentiment and high churn risks, media players are refocusing on core digital and streaming operations with hopes of greater efficiency and flexibility,” PwC said. (Churn is subscribers switching providers.)
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“Traditional companies are spinning off or divesting certain legacy cable assets, while others are conducting internal assessments or beginning to track their linear assets separately.”
Warner Bros. Discovery is where Superman hangs his cape, and the company’s shares are moving faster than a speeding bullet (sorry) after The Wall Street Journal reported that Paramount was preparing a majority cash bid for Warner Bros.
The move will be for the entire company, including its cable networks and movie studio, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the situation.
Paramount is run by David Ellison, the son of Oracle (ORCL)  Co-Founder Larry Ellison.
If the deal goes through, it would bring together two of Hollywood’s most storied studios, the parents of streaming services HBO Max and Paramount+. Warner is home to Barbie, DC Comics, Harry Potter and TV shows such as “The White Lotus,” as well as cable networks CNN, TBS and TNT.
Industry analysts also warned that the deal would likely result in significant job losses, as well as widespread cost-cutting measures, including executive departures.
Wall Street veteran looking to go long Paramount
Paramount is also the home of the Star Trek franchise — and TheStreet Pro’s Stephen “Sarge” Guilfoyle is looking to boldly go where he hasn’t gone in years.
Guilfoyle, whose career dates back to the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in the 1980s, said in a recent column that he planned to initiate a long position in Paramount Skydance after the news of the deal broke.
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“Loyal readers can probably remember my long positions in Paramount Global back in the early days of the streaming wars. I was confident that Paramount Global would have a leg up on many of the other streamers,” he said.
“They had a well-established news franchise at CBS that would go on to disgrace themselves and pay for it financially during the 2024 presidential campaign.”
In addition, Guilfoyle noted the group’s deep library of TV shows and movies as well as live sports.
“No, I did not think that they could catch the likes of Netflix (NFLX)   or Disney (DIS) , but I did think that they would do better than they have,” he said. “Maybe part of that was my juvenile-like fandom of the Stark Trek franchise.”
Still, Guilfoyle said that he had gotten himself long that stock several times, even thinking that perhaps the company would be acquired or merge with “any of the other legacy media providers straddling the space between legacy broadcast/cable delivery and the internet.”
The veteran trader noted that last month billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller’s Duquesne Family Office reported, via a Form 13-F with the Securities and Exchange Commission, that it had taken a 6.54-million-share long position in Warner Brothers Discovery.Â
“Druckenmiller really is the GOAT in our line of work, gang,” Guilfoyle said, referring to the “Greatest of All Time” title. “He really is. The Druck is one of maybe seven or eight other stock pickers who I will unmute the TV for when I see their faces.”
Guilfoyle said that he expected to start building a long position in Paramount Skydance over time, “incrementally on weakness when it presents itself.”
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