A history of Warner Bros — from old Hollywood to streaming era

Sept 21 (Reuters) - Paramount Skydance on Monday reached a settlement with California and 11 other states that had sued to stop its $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, paving the way for one of the largest media mergers in history.

The settlement includes bringing more film production to the US — spending at least $300 million more each year in domestic production — and an agreement to boost annual film releases progressively after the deal closes, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a press conference.

Here is a timeline from the founding of Time Inc and Warner Bros to the company's latest developments:

Date Event

1923 Warner Bros was founded by brothers Harry,

Albert, Sam and Jack Warner as a film studio

in Hollywood. It revolutionized cinema with

the introduction of synchronized sound in

films

1969  Kinney National Company, a conglomerate that

later transitioned into media, buys Warner

Bros-Seven Arts and later spins off its

non-media businesses

1972 HBO is founded by Charles Dolan with backing

from Time. It is the first US

subscription-based cable network, offering

uncut, commercial-free movies and live

sports, pioneering premium cable television

1990 Time Inc merges with Warner Communications

in a $14 billion deal, hailed as a "marriage

of content and distribution", creating Time

Warner, then the largest media company in

the world

1996  Time Warner merges with Turner Broadcasting,

gaining Cartoon Network, CNN, TNT and a vast

library of classic films

2000  Time Warner merges with AOL, forming AOL

Time Warner, the largest merger in history

at the time, aiming to marry traditional and

digital media

2002 AOL Time Warner merger begins to unravel as

AOL's value collapses with the launch of an

SEC investigation, prompted by allegations

of accounting irregularities and inflated

revenue reports at AOL

2003 CEO Steve Case resigns from AOL Time Warner

2004 Time Warner sells Warner Music to a private

equity group led by Edgar Bronfman Jr. for

$2.6 billion

2009 Time Warner fully spins off Time Warner

Cable, which had already been partially

separated in 2007, ending its role in cable

distribution

2009  Time Warner spins off AOL 

2013 Time Warner spins off Time, its magazine

division, which includes Time, People,

Fortune and Sports Illustrated, marking its

formal exit from publishing

2016 AT&T announces acquisition of Time Warner

for $85 billion

2018 AT&T completes its acquisition of Time

Warner after regulator approval, renaming it

WarnerMedia

2021 AT&T announces it will spin off WarnerMedia

and merge it with Discovery Inc to create a

new standalone media company

2022 WarnerMedia and Discovery complete their

merger in a $43 billion deal

June 9, Warner Bros Discovery announces it will

2025 separate into two companies — one focusing

on streaming and studios businesses, while

the second will house its cable TV assets

October 21, Warner Bros Discovery's board rejects a

2025 Paramount Skydance offer of nearly $60

billion, or $24 per share, a source familiar

with the matter exclusively tells Reuters.

The company says it is weighing a potential

sale amid interest from several suitors

November Warner Bros Discovery's board wants

18, 2025 Paramount Skydance to sweeten its bid to $30

per share, valuing the company at $74.34

billion, Axios reports

November Warner Bros Discovery receives preliminary

21, 2025 buyout bids from Paramount Skydance, Comcast

and Netflix — which were asked to improve

their offers

December 1, Warner Bros Discovery receives a second

2025 round of bids, including a mostly cash offer

from Netflix

December 4, Paramount Skydance accuses Warner Bros

2025 Discovery of running an unfair sale process

that favors Netflix over other bidders, CNBC

reports, citing a letter sent by the newly

merged media company

December 5, Netflix is in exclusive talks to buy Warner

2025 Bros Discovery's film and television studios

along with its streaming assets after

offering $28 per share, a source says

December 5, Netflix agrees to buy Warner Bros

2025 Discovery's film and TV studios and

streaming division for $72 billion, or

$27.75 per share

December 9, Paramount Skydance makes a hostile bid for

2025 Warner Bros Discovery in a deal valued at

$108.4 billion or $30 per share

December Warner Bros Discovery's board rejects

17, 2025 Paramount Skydance's hostile $108.4 billion

bid, saying it failed to provide adequate

financing assurances

December Paramount Skydance amends its offer to buy

23, 2025 Warner Bros Discovery to include a $40.4

billion personal guarantee from Larry

Ellison

January 7, Warner Bros Discovery rejects Paramount

2026 Skydance's amended hostile bid despite Larry

Ellison's guarantee

January 12, Paramount Skydance files lawsuit to force

2026 Warner Bros Discovery to disclose details of

its deal with Netflix and plans to nominate

directors to Warner Bros Discovery's board

January 20, Netflix amends its bid to an all‑cash offer

2026 for Warner Bros Discovery's studio and

streaming units and secures unanimous

approval from the Warner Bros board without

increasing the $82.7 billion purchase price

January 22, Paramount Skydance extends its hostile

2026 tender offer for Warner Bros Discovery to

February 20, seeking more time to win

investors

February 3, US senators grill Netflix co-CEO Ted

2026 Sarandos at a hearing over how the company's

acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery would

affect competition in the entertainment

industry

February 5, US President Donald Trump says he will stay

2026 out of the bidding war for Warner Bros

Discovery, a reversal from his comments late

last year

February Paramount Skydance revises its $30-per-share

10, 2026 all-cash offer for Warner Bros, adding a

25-cent-per-share fee for every quarter the

transaction does not close beyond December

31, 2026. Paramount also says it will fund

the $2.8 billion termination fee Warner Bros

owes Netflix if the deal falls through

February Warner Bros rejects Paramount's revised bid

17, 2026 and gives the Hollywood studio seven days to

see if it can come up with a better deal to

buy the owner of HBO Max and the "Harry

Potter" franchise

February Warner Bros Discovery says it is considering

24, 2026 a sweetened bid from Paramount Skydance

without disclosing the value of the deal

February Warner Bros Discovery opens the door to

24, 2026   Paramount after its CEO, David Ellison,

raises the offer to $31 per share

February Netflix refuses to raise its offer for

26, 2026 Warner Bros after the coveted Hollywood

studio said Paramount Skydance's revised

$31-a-share offer was superior to its

existing deal with the streaming giant

February Paramount pays the $2.80 billion termination

27, 2026 fee that Warner Bros owed Netflix

February Warner Bros Discovery enters an agreement to

27, 2026 be acquired by Paramount Skydance at $81

billion in equity value, in a transaction

expected to close in the third quarter of

2026

April 23, Warner Bros Discovery shareholders back

2026 proposed merger with Paramount Skydance and

cast an advisory vote against executive

compensation plans tied to the deal

May 21, Wall Street banks led by JPMorgan increase

2026 the size of a loan package for Warner Bros

Discovery to over $10 billion as the media

company seeks to refinance debt ahead of its

planned merger with Paramount

June 5, California, New York and other US states

2026 prepare a lawsuit to block Paramount

Skydance's acquisition of Warner Bros

Discovery

June 9, Britain's competition regulator formally

2026 starts its review of Paramount Skydance's

planned acquisition of Warner Bros

Discovery, after ending the first part of

its information-gathering process

June 12, The US Justice Department's Antitrust

2026 Division clears Paramount Skydance's planned

acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, saying

it was unlikely to harm competition or

consumers

June 17, Chinese regulators clear the planned merger

2026 between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros

Discovery, according to a source familiar

with the decision

July 8, The Oregon attorney general's office says

2026 Paramount will not close its acquisition of

Warner Bros before July 22, pushing the

deal's expected closing timeline back by

another week.

July 13, California and 11 states sue to block

2026 Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros

Discovery, alleging the deal will lessen

competition in film distribution and cable

television, harming theaters and pay TV

distributors.

July 14, The Writers Guild of America sues to block

2026 Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros

Discovery, saying the deal will jeopardize

writers' livelihoods and threaten the health

of US entertainment

July 20, Paramount must pause its acquisition of

2026 Warner Bros through August 3, a federal

judge rules after a California-led coalition

of states argued the merger would

irreparably harm competition

July 22, Paramount Skydance gets European Union

2026 antitrust approval for its deal to buy

Warner Bros Discovery after agreeing to

ditch a film distribution joint venture with

Universal Pictures

July 23, Paramount Skydance must pause its

2026 acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery through

August 17, a federal judge rules

August 6, Britain's government and its competition

2026 watchdog clear Paramount's acquisition of

Warner Bros Discovery after David Ellison

provided reassurances

August 17, Paramount Skydance asks a US judge to

2026 require a dozen states challenging its

acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery to post

a $1.88 billion bond to address the costs of

delay in completing a tie-up

August 18, Cinema United, a trade organization

2026 representing theater owners, appeals to

California Attorney General Rob Bonta and

Paramount Skydance to discuss settling the

lawsuit

August 24, California Attorney General Rob Bonta

2026 cancels a meeting with Paramount

representatives to begin settlement talks

over the state's lawsuit

August 31, The State of California and 11 other states

2026 join the Writers Guild of America in urging

a federal court judge to deny Paramount

Skydance's request for a $1.88 billion bond

September Paramount and 11 states seeking to block its

18, 2026 acquisition of Warner Bros can settle as

soon as this weekend, with independent

content monitoring of CNN among the terms

under discussion, sources familiar with the

matter tell Reuters

September Paramount Skydance has reached a settlement

21, 2026 with California and 11 other states that had

sued to stop its acquisition of Warner Bros

Discovery

(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh and Anhata Rooprai in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Manya Saini and Sneha S K; Editing by Leroy Leo, Arun Koyyur, Shinjini Ganguli, Pooja Desai, Tasim Zahid and Maju Samuel)