Shares of Paramount Skydance (PSKY) are surging in early open market trading on Thursday. The PSKY stock is up 9.4% at $11.11 and is among the top gainers on the S&P 500 index (SP500).
Although the company reported weak results on Wednesday after the bell, the current rally might be fueled by expectations that the David Ellison-led company would defeat streaming giant Netflix (NFLX) in the bidding war for the coveted assets of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD).
Investors have expressed worries about the debt load Paramount must bear in its pursuit of becoming a media behemoth. The company might carry up to $111B in debt on its balance sheet if it seals the Warner Bros. deal.
Some Wall Street insiders are even antagonistically rooting for Paramount to win only to fail down the line so that Netflix can buy the combined company for cheaper while pocketing the $2.8B in termination fees from Warner, which would also be funded by Paramount.
The plot continues to thicken. Netflix boss Ted Sarandos is expected to appear for a meeting today at the White House to discuss the $82.7B deal for Warner’s streaming and studio assets. The upcoming meeting follows President Donald Trump’s recent State of the Union 2026 address, which was attended by the Paramount CEO, who has strong ties to the current administration.
Prediction markets also expect Paramount to have the upper hand over Netflix in the ongoing saga of the media giants after Warner Bros. said this week that the latest submitted offer could be superior to Netflix.
Polymarket forecast a 51% chance of Paramount winning the bidding war, while Kalshi predicted the same at 60%.
Over 3.80M shares have changed hands before 11:00 am ET, below its three-month average trading volume of 8.88M.
So far this year, PSKY stock has declined 17% while the benchmark S&P index rose 1.5%.