Can David Ellison Break Hollywood’s Mega-Merger Curse?

AT&T paid $85.4 billion for Warner Bros. and failed to create value. The Walt Disney Company paid $71.3 billion for 20th Century Fox, and analysts still debate whether it was the right move. Discovery forked over $43 billion for Warner Bros. and is now selling. David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance is now committing $111 billion for the same asset. Yes, there has often been sound business logic behind major media mergers in recent years. But they consistently disappoint because properly integrating all those moving parts—creative...