Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders have officially given early approval to the long running, highly competitive merger bid from Paramount Skydance, moving the deal one big step closer to reality. Paramount is offering $31 per share to buy all of WBD — a massive jump considering the stock was trading around $8 just a year ago and sits near $27 today. Shareholders are thrilled with the premium. This deal caps off a months long bidding war between Netflix and Paramount, which started back in October. WBD originally accepted Netflix’s offer in December. Paramount then launched a hostile counter bid, backed by $40 billion in equity from Oracle founder Larry Ellison. Both companies eventually switched to all cash offers. If completed, the merger would fold TNT, CNN, Discovery Channel, HBO Max, and the entire Warner Bros. film studio under the Paramount umbrella — creating one of the largest media companies in the world. The companies expect the deal to close in Q3 of 2026, pending final regulatory approvals.