🐻 PARA — Company Profile (Educational)¶
Educational site, not investment advice. Market cap / stock price / quarterly financials are volatile — not written here. Links to SEC + Yahoo Finance instead; verify real-time data yourself.
⚠️ Multi-stage M&A track:
Stage 1 — Skydance merger complete (2025/08/07): Paramount Global merged with Skydance Media. New company ticker = PSKY (Nasdaq). Old PARA shares no longer trade. Source: Cravath announcement + PSKY 8-K SEC.
Stage 2 — Acquiring Warner Bros Discovery (pending): On 2026/02/27, Paramount Skydance signed a definitive merger agreement to acquire WBD at $31/share cash ($110.9B total). WBD shareholders approved the deal on 2026/04/23. Expected close Q3 2026, subject to regulatory clearances (includes a $0.25/share/quarter ticking fee if not closed by 2026/09/30). Source: Paramount 2026/02/27 announcement + Cleary Gottlieb deal counsel.
This file is retained as historical reference; for current data, look up PSKY.
📌 Basics (pre-merger snapshot, historical)¶
| Dimension | Content | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Core business (pre-merger) | Content studio (Paramount Pictures) + DTC streaming (Paramount+ / Pluto TV) + linear TV (CBS + MTV + Comedy Central + Nickelodeon) | Historical 10-K |
| Founded / HQ | 1912 (Paramount Pictures) / New York, USA | wiki |
| CEO (post-merger) | David Ellison (since 2025/08/07, Skydance founder) | PSKY 8-K |
| Primary listing (post-merger) | NASDAQ: PSKY (old PARA no longer trades) | — |
| Fiscal year | Calendar year (Jan 1 – Dec 31) | — |
💡 Real-time market cap / stock price / Paramount+ subs (now under PSKY): see SEC + IR links below
🏭 Industry Chain Coordinates (Part 1-C6 framework, post-merger snapshot)¶
Upstream (Who PSKY depends on)¶
| Supplier | What flows | Key dependency |
|---|---|---|
| Paramount Pictures + Skydance Media production | Film / series IP | Internal, locked |
| Sports rights (NFL on CBS + college sports) | CBS live | Multi-year contracts |
| Studios + actor unions | Content production labor | Multi-supplier |
Downstream (Who depends on PSKY)¶
| Customer | Relationship | Customer concentration |
|---|---|---|
| Paramount+ subscribers (~80M scale at merger close) | B2C subscription | Extremely fragmented |
| Pluto TV FAST (free ad-supported streaming) | Ad monetization | Diversified advertisers |
| Theaters — Paramount Pictures distribution | B2B revenue share | PSKY holds leverage |
| Cable / vMVPD carriage | CBS / MTV / Comedy Central channel licensing | Intense bidding |
Competitors¶
- Streaming / DTC:
NFLX·DIS·WBD·CMCSA(Peacock) ·AMZN·AAPL - Film studios:
DIS·WBD(Warner Bros) ·CMCSA(Universal) ·SONY(Sony Pictures) ·NFLX(Netflix Studios) - News / live sports:
DIS(ESPN) ·WBD(CNN / TNT) ·CMCSA(NBC / Peacock)
💼 Business Model + Value Capture (Part 1-C7 lens)¶
- Revenue mix (pre-merger PARA): Films ~15% / Networks ~55% / DTC (Paramount+) ~25% / Other ~5%
- Gross margin: 30% magnitude; Networks decline + DTC cash burn pressured margin
- Pricing power: Moderate IP catalog (Top Gun + Mission Impossible + SpongeBob), but scale < NFLX / DIS — weaker pricing leverage
- Substitution difficulty: Low - Medium — IP value exists, but lacks NFLX scale or DIS IP depth; has long been an industry consolidation candidate
(Post-merger PSKY quarterly data: see latest 10-Q)
🏰 Moat Assessment (Part 3-C2 Buffett 5-step lens)¶
| Type | Strength (0-1) | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Brand | 0.6 | Paramount + CBS + MTV + Nickelodeon heritage strong |
| Switching cost | 0.2 | DTC cancellable anytime, Networks accelerating decline |
| Network effects | 0.3 | IP catalog moderate; scale limits flywheel |
| Scale + cost | 0.3 | Global scale < NFLX / DIS, per-user content spend high |
Composite: 1.4 / 4 → Weaker moat; merger is a structural survival move. Watch post-merger synergy execution
⚠️ Key Reverse Trigger Conditions (Part 3-C5 anti-thesis lens)¶
Post-merger shift focus to PSKY monitoring:
- Trigger 1 (quarterly): PSKY Paramount+ net adds < 1-2M / quarter
- Trigger 2 (quarterly): Networks (CBS / MTV / Comedy Central / Nickelodeon) revenue YoY -15%+ (cord-cutting acceleration)
- Trigger 3 (integration): Synergy below announced $6B target (Skydance integration execution risk)
- Trigger 4 (event): Key sports rights lost (e.g., NFL on CBS)
- Trigger 5 (financial): Net debt / EBITDA > 4x or credit rating downgrade
🔗 Cross-Chapter Teaching Links¶
- Part 1-C6 · 5 Roles in Industry Chain — Downstream D.4 media + content
- Part 1-C7 · Value Capture — Mid-size media consolidation in the platform era
- Patterns Investing Laws — #11 customer concentration · #14 consolidation cycle (merger)
📚 SEC Primary Public Filings (look it up yourself)¶
Post-merger, all filings under PSKY (CIK 0001545459):
- SEC EDGAR PSKY all filings — Post-merger entity full SEC submissions
- PSKY Investor Relations page — earnings calendar + quarterly reports
- Merger announcement 8-K (2025/08/07)
- Cravath merger completion announcement (legal counsel)
Real-time stock price: Yahoo Finance PSKY (old PARA is delisted)
Educational — numbers shift; learn the method, not the figures · investment decisions based on your own research + risk tolerance