In an orgy of tons of money being thrown around, one monster Hollywood Entertainment Conglomerate, Paramount, bought another, Warner Bros. Discovery, in a $110 billion mega-merger, which could leave Unions, Workers, consumers and Lawmakers on the outside looking in while CEOs enrich themselves and an oligopoly’s clout grows larger.

And that’s even without taking into consideration that big Donald Trump pal David Ellison, the Paramount CEO, hosted the President at a Downtown D.C. bash the night of the deal (April 23rd).

That’s not a coincidence.

The sale drew protests in New York in the morning and outside the White House in the evening.

Paramount, which also owns CBS - and which has turned that network’s news division in a Trump-pleasing direction - and CNN, gobbled up Discovery just months ago.

It won the bidding for Warner by offering $31 a share.

That was four times the trading price of Warner on Securities Exchanges.

The Warner Board, meeting by Zoom on the morning of April 23rd, took just minutes to seal the deal.

Voting numbers were not disclosed.

The loser in the war for Warner - Netflix, didn’t do too badly.

In an indication of the massive amounts of money capitalists throw around in such transactions, Netflix’s Board okayed using the funds it saved from its losing bid for Warner for a $25 billion stock buyback, enriching its investors and its honchos. 

In a minor revolt, the Warner Board okayed the Paramount deal, but shareholders, a larger group, revolted against the $551 million golden parachute for Warner’s CEO, David Zaslav, and nine-figure sums for his team.

The stockholder votes are non-binding, though. 

Left outside looking in as all this money and clout were exercised were Lawmakers, the Writers Guild of America and 4,000 top performers, led by long-time Political Activist Jane Fonda.

They signed an open letter against the merger.

And other Workers besides the stars fear their jobs could disappear into “economies of scale” - i.e., layoffs and increasing use of Artificial Intelligence to replace them - or both.

To Continue Reading This Labor News Report, Go To: Union, lawmakers, performers condemn Paramount’s $110B mega-merger with Warner-Discovery – People's World