BONUS EP: Paramount’s Looming Debt Bomb — With Analyst Robert Fishman

David Ellison may be calling Paramount’s agreement to delay its $111 billion Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition a “significant win.” Wall Street appears less convinced. Paramount Skydance shares sank to a new low after the company agreed Friday not to close the deal until the antitrust lawsuits brought by 12 state attorneys general and the Writers Guild of America are resolved — or until next June, whichever comes first. The delay starts an expensive clock. Beginning in October, Paramount must pay WBD shareholders roughly $7 million a day, or about $650 million per quarter, while the acquisition remains unfinished. Even a resolution early next year could cost close to $1 billion. A fight stretching to June would push the bill toward $2 billion — on top of the nearly $80 billion in debt the combined company is already expected to carry. “The state AGs are clearly making a lot more noise than they probably were expecting,” MoffettNathanson senior analyst Robert Fishman tells Sean McNulty on a special bonus episode of Ankler Agenda. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices