Paramount Skydance (PSKY) Stock Today: Netflix–Warner Bros. Deal Triggers a 16% Slide – What Comes Next for the New Hollywood Giant?

Date: December 8, 2025

Paramount Skydance Corporation (NASDAQ: PSKY) is starting this week under serious pressure. After losing a high‑stakes bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery to Netflix, the newly merged media company has just logged one of the worst weekly performances in the S&P 500. ^[1]

PSKY closed on Friday, December 5, at $13.37, down almost 10% on the day and roughly 16.5% over the past week, making it the index’s biggest percentage loser. ^[2] Pre‑market quotes early Monday show only a modest bounce to around $13.47, suggesting investors are still digesting the fallout from the Netflix–Warner Bros. deal. ^[3]

At the same time, Wall Street forecasts now paint a picture of low‑growth revenue, a return to modest profitability, and only limited upside from current levels – with consensus ratings tilted toward Sell or Reduce. ^[4]

Here’s a detailed look at where Paramount Skydance stands today, why the stock is under pressure, and how analysts see the story playing out from here.

1. Paramount Skydance in 2025: What Exactly Is PSKY?

Paramount Skydance Corporation is the product of the long‑running merger saga between Skydance Media and Paramount Global (the former ViacomCBS). After months of regulatory drama, the $8‑plus‑billion deal finally closed on August 7, 2025. ^[5]

Key basics:

• The combined company trades on Nasdaq under ticker PSKY (Class B shares). ^[6]
• David Ellison, Skydance’s founder, is now chairman and CEO, with veteran media executive Jeff Shell as president. ^[7]
• The group controls a deep content library and brands including:
  • Paramount Pictures
  • CBS and CBS Sports
  • Nickelodeon, MTV and other cable nets
  • Paramount+ and Pluto TV streaming platforms
  • Long‑running franchises like “Mission: Impossible,” “Top Gun,” “Transformers,” and “Star Trek.” ^[8]

Strategically, Ellison has pitched Paramount Skydance as a “next‑generation” media company built around big IP, a unified streaming strategy, and aggressive cost cuts and asset sales to clean up the balance sheet. ^[9]

2. Stock Performance: From Merger Pop to December Slump

Weekly damage

Over the first week of December, PSKY’s chart has looked like a staircase going down:

• Dec 1 close: $15.71
• Dec 3: $14.67 (down about 7% in a single session)
• Dec 5: $13.37 (another near‑10% drop) ^[10]

That sequence adds up to roughly a 16.5% weekly decline, making PSKY the worst performer in the S&P 500 last week as investors bailed out after Netflix secured the Warner Bros. Discovery deal. ^[11]

Several outlets also note that Paramount Skydance ranked among the top 10 large‑cap losers in the U.S. market over the Dec. 1–5 period. ^[12]

Bigger picture

Zoom out, and the story is more nuanced:

• 52‑week range: roughly $9.95–$20.86
• 1‑year performance: still up about 20% over the past 12 months, despite the recent crash ^[13]
• Earlier in November, one analyst note pointed out PSKY was up around 40%+ year‑to‑date, before the Warner Bros. drama shaved off a big chunk of those gains. ^[14]

In other words: PSKY is not a broken IPO – it’s a newly merged media giant that rallied hard on restructuring hopes, and is now getting repriced after missing out on a transformational acquisition.

3. The Netflix–Warner Bros. Deal: How Paramount Skydance Lost the Prize

The heart of the recent sell‑off is the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) – owner of the Warner Bros. studio, HBO Max, DC Comics, and a pile of coveted IP.

Paramount’s escalating bids

Over the course of 2025, Paramount Skydance:

• Reportedly made an offer approaching $60 billion for WBD in October. ^[15]
• Came back with a new proposal valuing WBD at $30 per share, backed by at least three large Middle Eastern wealth funds, in a second round of bidding. ^[16]
• Sweetened the deal again by lifting the breakup fee from about $2.1 billion to $5 billion, signalling confidence it could clear regulators. ^[17]

In theory, that combination would have created a mega‑studio with Paramount’s broadcast and sports footprint plus Warner Bros.’ film and HBO assets – a kind of “old Hollywood Voltron” to counter Netflix and Disney.

Netflix wins – and PSKY tanks

Instead, last week Netflix and WBD struck a deal:

• WBD shareholders are set to receive $27.75 per share from Netflix.
• The transaction values WBD equity at around $72 billion, and the total enterprise value near $82–83 billion once debt is factored in. ^[18]
• The purchase includes Warner Bros. studio and HBO Max, while WBD spins out Discovery‑branded assets into a separate public company, with completion targeted for Q3 2026. ^[19]

With that announcement, PSKY shares promptly became the biggest loser of the week, falling about 16.5% as traders unwound “Paramount‑wins‑WBD” bets. ^[20]

Paramount fights back via letter and lobbying

Paramount Skydance hasn’t taken the loss quietly:

• Its lawyers sent a sharp letter to WBD CEO David Zaslav and the board, arguing that the sales process was “tilted” and unfairly favoured Netflix, and questioning whether WBD was really acting in shareholders’ best interests. ^[21]
• The letter, shared with media, points to reports of WBD executives allegedly talking up a “slam dunk” deal with Netflix while treating Paramount’s bid less favourably, and calls for an independent special committee to oversee the sale process. ^[22]
• Separately, PSKY chief David Ellison reportedly met with White House officials to argue that Netflix’s bid should be discounted because of the regulatory risk and potential concentration in streaming, especially once HBO Max is included. ^[23]

This is not just sour grapes; it’s also about creating a record for possible future challenges if regulators grow uncomfortable with Netflix’s market power.

4. Politics and Antitrust: Trump, Regulators and the Streaming Wars

This is where things get really weirdly 21st‑century.

Trump’s evolving role

On December 8, 2025, President Donald Trump publicly warned that Netflix’s proposed Warner Bros. acquisition could pose “a problem” for competition, and said he expects to be personally involved in deciding whether the deal proceeds – an unusually direct presidential role in antitrust review. ^[24]

Key points from current coverage:

• Opponents, including Hollywood unions, argue Netflix plus HBO Max could control well over 30% of the U.S. streaming market, raising red flags. ^[25]
• Trump has also said he previously preferred a rival proposal backed by Paramount and Larry Ellison (David Ellison’s father), further politicising the situation. ^[26]

This matters for PSKY because if regulators – or Trump – ultimately block or reshape the Netflix–WBD deal, Paramount Skydance could get another shot at those assets, or at least at pieces of them, potentially reopening the M&A play that investors thought was dead.

Paramount’s own merger is under scrutiny

At the same time, Paramount Skydance is not a neutral bystander in regulatory politics:

• Its own Skydance–Paramount merger was approved by the FCC earlier this year, with unusual conditions: commitments to maintain an ombudsman overseeing CBS content and to drop formal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes. ^[27]
• In November, top Democrats in the U.S. House accused Paramount Skydance of “stonewalling” their probe into how the Trump administration approved the deal and a related $16 million settlement of Trump’s lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” interview. ^[28]

The same politicians now watching Netflix’s mega‑deal are already suspicious of how PSKY itself was born. That adds a layer of governance and headline risk on top of the pure streaming economics.

5. Wall Street’s Paramount Skydance (PSKY) Stock Forecast

If you strip away the Hollywood drama and look at analyst models, the view on PSKY right now is cautious at best.

Ratings and targets

Different data providers frame the consensus slightly differently, but they rhyme:

• StockAnalysis: 11 analysts, consensus rating “Sell”, with an average 12‑month price target of $13.91 – only about 4% above Friday’s close. Target range: $8 (low) to $19 (high). ^[29]
• MarketBeat / MarketWatch style aggregates: around 20–26 analysts with an overall recommendation between “Reduce” and “Hold”, and an average target in the $13.5–$14.2 band, again near the current price. ^[30]
• Several recent updates:
  • Bank of America raised its target from $11 to $13 while keeping a negative stance, warning that the post‑merger restructuring could take years. ^[31]
  • Evercore ISI nudged its target from $12 to $14 with an “in‑line”/Hold‑type rating, implying only mid‑single‑digit upside from here. ^[32]

In short, the Street mostly sees PSKY as fairly valued to slightly overvalued after the sell‑off, with only niche pockets of outright bullishness (a handful of targets near $19–$20). ^[33]

Earnings and revenue forecasts

The models do assume a fundamental turnaround:

• Revenue is expected to edge from about $29.2 billion last year to $29.5 billion in 2025 (+1.1%), then to $30.6 billion in 2026 (+3.5%). ^[34]
• EPS (earnings per share) is forecast to swing from a loss of roughly $9.34 (pre‑merger restructuring charges and write‑downs) to +$0.69 in 2025, then +$1.05 in 2026 – more than 50% growth year‑on‑year. ^[35]

That’s classic “turnaround” math: modest top‑line growth, heavy cost cuts, and operating leverage pushing margins higher. But because the starting point is ugly, estimates remain volatile.

6. Fundamentals and Strategy: Ellison’s Plan Under the Microscope

The first major glimpse of the new Paramount Skydance strategy came with its Q3 2025 results, the first set of earnings after the merger closed.

According to Reuters’ coverage of that report: ^[36]

• PSKY announced:
  • About $1.5 billion in incremental investment for streaming and studio content.
  • A goal of roughly $30 billion in annual revenue by 2026.
  • An increased cost‑savings target of at least $3 billion, tied to job cuts and asset sales.
  • Plans to unify its streaming platforms and ramp up to around 15 theatrical releases in 2026.
• The stock had, at that point, gained roughly 30% since the merger’s completion, as investors bought into Ellison’s “streaming‑first” and “efficiency‑obsessed” playbook.
• Analysts, however, flagged cash‑flow risk: the combination of heavy content investment and restructuring charges could delay progress toward an investment‑grade balance sheet.

Relative valuation isn’t outrageous. Earlier coverage pegged Paramount Skydance’s forward price‑to‑earnings multiple in the mid‑teens, below Disney and far below Netflix, which still commands a premium multiple north of 30x earnings. ^[37]

That said, leverage and liquidity are not trivial concerns. A quick ratio under 1 suggests PSKY doesn’t have a huge short‑term cushion, so execution on asset sales and cost reductions really matters. ^[38]

7. The Bull Case: Why Some Analysts Still See Upside

Not everybody thinks PSKY is doomed to be the perpetual “almost” bidder.

A recent Invezz/TradingView piece lays out a constructive scenario: ^[39]

• Content depth: PSKY combines CBS, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon and strong sports rights (CBS Sports), giving it a broad library that can be monetised across film, broadcast, cable and streaming.
• Differentiation opportunity: Rather than chasing scale at all costs, Paramount could lean into distinctive, high‑impact content – tentpole films, prestige series, sports – to stand out in a crowded streaming market.
• Restructuring tailwind: Ongoing cost cuts and platform consolidation can improve margins even if revenue growth remains low‑single‑digit.
• Regulatory optionality: Because Paramount is smaller than Netflix, a Paramount–WBD combo has generally been seen as easier to clear with antitrust regulators. If the Netflix deal is delayed or blocked, PSKY could re‑emerge as a “politically cleaner” alternative buyer. ^[40]

Some of the more optimistic analyst targets – up to about $19–$20 per share – implicitly assume that:

• The restructuring delivers on those $3B+ in savings,
• Streaming losses narrow meaningfully,
• And PSKY either finds another big deal or uses its existing library more efficiently to drive earnings.

That’s the upside scenario that keeps a few bulls in the stock even after the WBD disappointment.

8. The Bear Case: Why PSKY Is Trading Like a Cautionary Tale

The recent sell‑off also reflects a pretty clear bearish narrative.

1. Streaming economics are still unforgiving

Despite its assets, PSKY is competing against:

• Netflix, which just agreed to absorb HBO’s crown‑jewel IP if regulators allow it. ^[41]
• Disney, with its own massive library and theme‑park‑supported ecosystem.
• Big tech platforms like Amazon and Apple with effectively infinite balance sheets.

If Netflix successfully integrates Warner Bros., Paramount’s relative scale problem gets worse.

2. M&A thesis just took a hit

For a chunk of investors, PSKY’s attraction was the optionality around buying WBD and becoming a true peer to Netflix and Disney. That leg of the thesis is now badly wounded:

• PSKY is on the outside looking in at the Netflix–WBD merger.
• Its aggressive bidding (raising breakup fees, backed by sovereign funds) now looks like a sunk effort with no short‑term payoff. ^[42]

3. Political and regulatory overhang

On top of business risk, PSKY now carries headline risk from both directions:

• It’s central to a live political fight over how the Trump administration handled its own merger approval, with House Democrats accusing the company of withholding documents. ^[43]
• It’s tangled in antitrust debates around streaming consolidation, as Ellison lobbies against Netflix’s WBD deal while Trump simultaneously talks about intervening. ^[44]

Markets generally don’t love companies that depend too much on the mood of regulators and politicians.

4. Execution and balance‑sheet risk

Analysts repeatedly highlight:

• The cash‑flow strain of investing billions in new content while cutting costs and servicing debt. ^[45]
• The risk that synergy and savings targets slip, which would blow up the neat EPS recovery models for 2026–27. ^[46]

That’s why so many rating summaries come out as Sell/Underperform/Reduce, even with seemingly modest P/E ratios.

9. What to Watch Next for Paramount Skydance Stock

For anyone tracking PSKY (or holding the stock), the next phase hinges on a few key catalysts:

1. Regulatory path for Netflix–WBD
   • DOJ and EU reviews, plus any direct intervention from the White House, could delay, reshape, or even block the deal. ^[47]
   • Any sign of trouble for Netflix could revive speculation about Paramount re‑entering the bidding.
2. Paramount Skydance’s own restructuring milestones
   • Evidence that it’s on track to hit $3B+ in cost savings, integrate operations and improve streaming economics will be watched closely each quarter. ^[48]
3. Earnings and guidance for 2026
   • Analysts currently expect low‑single‑digit revenue growth but a sharp rebound in EPS. Any miss, or a walk‑back of those targets, would likely hit the stock again. ^[49]
4. Congressional oversight of the Skydance–Paramount merger
   • If the House investigation escalates or uncovers problematic communications, PSKY could face reputational damage or even attempts to revisit conditions. ^[50]
5. Market sentiment on legacy media vs. tech‑led streamers
   • Broad rotations in the market, especially if investors sour on ad‑supported streaming or linear TV, can amplify PSKY’s volatility.

10. Bottom Line: A High‑Drama Turnaround Story With Capped Near‑Term Upside

As of December 8, 2025, Paramount Skydance stock sits in an odd place:

• Fundamentals: Analysts see slow revenue growth but a meaningful EPS rebound over the next two years as restructuring kicks in. ^[51]
• Valuation: PSKY trades at low‑ to mid‑teens forward earnings multiples, cheaper than Netflix and slightly below Disney, but that discount reflects real risk rather than hidden treasure. ^[52]
• Sentiment: The consensus rating cluster around Sell/Reduce/Hold, and average price targets sit only a few percent above the current quote, signalling limited expected upside in the base case. ^[53]
• Optionality: A lot of the blue‑sky scenario now depends on regulators pushing back on Netflix’s WBD deal and reopening the M&A chessboard – something that could take years and is deeply uncertain. ^[54]

For now, PSKY looks less like a straightforward value play and more like a complex, politically‑charged turnaround: potentially rewarding if Ellison executes flawlessly and the regulatory gods smile, but with enough moving parts to keep risk‑averse investors nervous.

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