David Ellison told CNBC his combined company includes HBO Max. HBO Max is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Warner Bros. Discovery is not owned by Skydance. Skydance is merging with Paramount. Paramount owns Paramount+. These are different streaming services owned by different companies run by different people who would very much like to keep it that way.
This is the equivalent of buying a Honda and telling your neighbors the purchase includes a free Lexus. It does not include a free Lexus. You just want them to think you own a Lexus. The difference is your neighbors will figure it out in about ten seconds. CNBC apparently needed more time.
The quote says the company is positioned to win in every single vertical. Every single one. Streaming, check. Broadcast, check. Pay TV, check. Owning assets that belong to a completely separate publicly traded corporation, also check apparently. This is the kind of confidence you develop when nobody has told you no in fifteen years.
Retail traders will read this headline and think Skydance just pulled off some kind of mega-merger that includes half of Hollywood. They will buy calls on Paramount. They will buy calls on Warner Bros. Discovery. They will tell their cousins about the deal at Thanksgiving. Their cousins will also buy calls. None of them will read past the headline. None of them will notice that HBO Max is not part of this transaction and has not been part of Paramount's portfolio at any point in human history.
Ellison's company is positioned to win in every vertical except the one where you accurately describe which assets you actually own.
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