A history of Warner Bros – from old Hollywood to streaming era
Sept 21 (Reuters) – Paramount Skydance has reached a settlement with California and other states suing to block its $110 billion merger with Warner Bros Discovery, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday.
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The settlement includes independent editorial boards for the CNN and CBS networks and a $30 million penalty per film falling short of the 30-movies-a-year release target that Paramount has promised, according to the source.
Here is a timeline from the founding of Time Inc and Warner Bros to the company’s latest breakup and potential sale.
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Date Event
1923 Warner Bros was founded by brothers Harry,
Albert, Sam and Jack Warner as a film studio
in Hollywood. It revolutionized cinema with
the introduction of synchronized sound in
films
1969 Kinney National Company, a conglomerate that
later transitioned into media, buys Warner
Bros-Seven Arts and later spins off its
non-media businesses
1972 HBO is founded by Charles Dolan with backing
from Time. It was the first U.S.
subscription-based cable network, offering
uncut, commercial-free movies and live
sports, pioneering premium cable television
1990 Time Inc merges with Warner Communications
in a $14 billion deal, hailed as a “marriage
of content and distribution”, creating Time
Warner, then the largest media company in
the world
1996 Time Warner merges with Turner Broadcasting,
gaining Cartoon Network, CNN, TNT and a vast
film library of classic films
2000 Time Warner merges with AOL, forming AOL
Time Warner, the largest merger in history
at the time, aiming to marry traditional and
digital media
2002 AOL Time Warner merger begins to unravel as
AOL’s value collapses with the launch of an
SEC investigation, prompted by allegations
of accounting irregularities and inflated
revenue reports at AOL
2003 CEO Steve Case resigns from AOL Time Warner
2004 Time Warner sells Warner Music to a private
equity group led by Edgar Bronfman Jr. for
$2.6 billion
2009 Time Warner fully spins off Time Warner
Cable, which had already been partially
separated in 2007, ending its role in cable
distribution
2009 Time Warner spins off AOL
2013 Time Warner spins off Time, its magazine
division, which includes Time, People,
Fortune and Sports Illustrated, marking its
formal exit from publishing
2016 AT&T announces acquisition of Time Warner
for $85 billion
2018 AT&T completes its acquisition of Time
Warner after regulator approval, renaming it
WarnerMedia
2021 AT&T announces it will spin off WarnerMedia
and merge it with Discovery Inc to create a
new standalone media company
2022 WarnerMedia and Discovery complete their
merger in a $43 billion deal
June 9, Warner Bros Discovery announces it will
2025 separate into two companies – one focusing
on streaming and studios businesses, while
the second will house its cable TV assets
October 21, Warner Bros Discovery’s board rejects a
2025 Paramount Skydance offer of nearly $60
billion, or $24 per share, a source familiar
with the matter exclusively tells Reuters.
The company says it is weighing a potential
sale amid interest from several suitors
November Warner Bros Discovery’s board wants
18, 2025 Paramount Skydance to sweeten its bid to $30
per share, valuing the company at $74.34
billion, Axios reports
November Warner Bros Discovery receives preliminary
21, 2025 buyout bids from Paramount Skydance, Comcast
and Netflix – who were asked to improve
their offers
December 1, Warner Bros Discovery receives a second
2025 round of bids, including a mostly cash offer
from Netflix
December 4, Paramount Skydance accuses Warner Bros
2025 Discovery of running an unfair sale process
that favors Netflix over other bidders, CNBC
reports, citing a letter sent by the newly
merged media company
December 5, Netflix is in exclusive talks to buy Warner
2025 Bros Discovery’s film and television studios
along with its streaming assets after
offering $28 per share, a source says
December 5, Netflix agrees to buy Warner Bros
2025 Discovery’s film and TV studios and
streaming division for $72 billion, or
$27.75 per share
December 9, Paramount Skydance makes a hostile bid for
2025 Warner Bros Discovery in a deal valued at
$108.4 billion or $30 per share
December Warner Bros Discovery’s board rejects
17, 2025 Paramount Skydance’s hostile $108.4 billion
bid, saying it failed to provide adequate
financing assurances
December Paramount Skydance amends its offer to buy
23, 2025 Warner Bros Discovery to include a $40.4
billion personal guarantee from Larry
Ellison
January 7, Warner Bros Discovery rejects Paramount
2026 Skydance’s amended hostile bid despite Larry
Ellison’s guarantee
January 12, Paramount Skydance files lawsuit to force
2026 Warner Bros Discovery to disclose details of
its deal with Netflix and plans to nominate
directors to Warner Bros Discovery’s board
January 20, Netflix amends its bid to an all‑cash offer
2026 for Warner Bros Discovery’s studio and
streaming units and secures unanimous
approval from the Warner Bros board without
increasing the $82.7 billion purchase price
January 22, Paramount Skydance extends its hostile
2026 tender offer for Warner Bros Discovery to
February 20, seeking more time to win
investors
February 3, U.S. senators grill Netflix co-CEO Ted
2026 Sarandos at a hearing over how the company’s
acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery would
affect competition in the entertainment
industry
February 5, U.S. President Donald Trump says he will
2026 stay out of the bidding war for Warner Bros
Discovery, a reversal from his comments late
last year
February Paramount Skydance revises its $30-per-share
10, 2026 all-cash offer for Warner Bros, adding a
25-cent-per-share fee for every quarter the
transaction does not close beyond December
31, 2026. Paramount also says it will fund
the $2.8 billion termination fee Warner Bros
owes Netflix if the deal falls through
February Warner Bros rejects Paramount’s revised bid
17, 2026 and gives the Hollywood Studio seven days to
see if it can come up with a better deal to
buy the owner of HBO Max and the “Harry
Potter” franchise
February Warner Bros Discovery says it is considering
24, 2026 a sweetened bid from Paramount Skydance
without disclosing the value of the deal
February Warner Bros Discovery opens the door to
24, 2026 Paramount after its CEO, David Ellison,
raises the offer to $31 per share
February Netflix refuses to raise its offer for
26, 2026 Warner Bros after the coveted Hollywood
studio said Paramount Skydance’s revised
$31-a-share offer was superior to its
existing deal with the streaming giant
February Paramount pays the $2.80 billion termination
27, 2026 fee that Warner Bros owed Netflix, streaming
giant discloses in SEC filing
February Warner Bros Discovery enters an agreement to
27, 2026 be acquired by Paramount Skydance at $81
billion in equity value, in a transaction
expected to close in the third quarter of
2026
April 23, Warner Bros Discovery shareholders back
2026 proposed merger with Paramount Skydance and
cast an advisory vote against executive
compensation plans tied to the deal
May 21, Wall Street banks led by JPMorgan increase
2026 the size of a loan package for Warner Bros
Discovery to over $10 billion as the media
company seeks to refinance debt ahead of its
planned merger with Paramount
June 5, California, New York and other U.S. states
2026 prepare a lawsuit to block Paramount
Skydance’s acquisition of Warner Bros
Discovery
June 9, Britain’s competition regulator formally
2026 starts its review of Paramount Skydance’s
planned acquisition of Warner Bros
Discovery, after ending the first part of
its information gathering process
June 12, The U.S. Justice Department’s Antitrust
2026 Division clears Paramount Skydance’s planned
acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery,
saying it was unlikely to harm competition
or consumers
June 17, Chinese regulators clear the planned merger
2026 between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros
Discovery, according to a source familiar
with the decision
July 8, The Oregon attorney general’s office says
2026 Paramount will not close its acquisition of
Warner Bros. before July 22, pushing the
deal’s expected closing timeline back by
another week.
July 13, California and 11 states sue to block
2026 Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros
Discovery, alleging the deal will lessen
competition in film distribution and cable
television, harming theaters and pay TV
distributors.
July 14, The Writers Guild of America sues to block
2026 Paramount’s acquisition of Warner Bros
Discovery, saying the deal will jeopardize
writers’ livelihoods and threaten the health
of U.S. entertainment
July 20, Paramount must pause its acquisition of
2026 Warner Bros deal through August 3, a federal
judge rules after a California-led coalition
of states argued the merger would
irreparably harm competition
July 22, Paramount Skydance gets European Union
2026 antitrust approval for its deal to buy
Warner Bros Discovery after agreeing to
ditch a film distribution joint venture with
Universal Pictures
July 23, Paramount Skydance must pause its
2026 acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery through
August 17, a federal judge rules
August 6, Britain’s government and its competition
2026 watchdog clear Paramount’s acquisition of
Warner Bros Discovery after David Ellison
provided reassurances
August 17, Paramount Skydance ask a U.S. judge to
2026 require a dozen states challenging its
acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery to post
a $1.88 billion bond to address the costs of
delay in completing a tie-up
August 18, Cinema United, a trade organization
2026 representing theater owners, appeals to
California Attorney General Rob Bonta and
Paramount Skydance to discuss settling the
lawsuit
August 24, California Attorney General Rob Bonta
2026 cancels a meeting with Paramount
representatives to begin settlement talks
over the state’s lawsuit
August 31, The State of California and 11 other states
2026 join the Writers Guild of America in urging
a federal court judge to deny Paramount
Skydance’s request for a $1.88 billion bond
September Paramount and 11 states seeking to block its
18, 2026 acquisition of Warner Bros can settle as
soon as this weekend, with independent
content monitoring of CNN among the terms
under discussion, sources familiar with the
matter tell Reuters
September Paramount Skydance has reached a settlement
21, 2026 with California and 11 other states that
sued to block its acquisition of Warner Bros
Discovery, a source tells Reuters
(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh and Anhata Rooprai in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Manya Saini and Sneha S K; Editing by Leroy Leo, Arun Koyyur, Shinjini Ganguli, Pooja Desai, Tasim Zahid and Maju Samuel)
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This story was originally published September 21, 2026 at 12:01 PM.
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