{"id":450918,"date":"2025-12-16T12:43:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T12:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/450918\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T12:43:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T12:43:13","slug":"big-media-and-sports-deals-soared-in-2025-report-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/450918\/","title":{"rendered":"Big media and sports deals soared in 2025, report finds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>As the end of 2025 approaches, it is abundantly clear this has been a year hot with big media and sports deals. And it\u2019s a trend that should spill into the new year. <\/p>\n<p>Consulting firm PwC (formerly Price Waterhouse Coopers) on Tuesday released its annual outlook for deal activity in the media and telecommunications industry, and discerned a <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/sports\/lakers\/story\/2025-06-18\/lakers-sell-majority-ownership-to-mark-walter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">notable uptick in the value of proposed tie-ups<\/a> compared with 2024. <\/p>\n<p>The last few months have witnessed a surge in large combinations, marking a 61% rise in deal value in the second half of the year, compared with the last six months of 2024, the firm said in the report.<\/p>\n<p>Several deals this year have stood out:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"rte2-style-ul\">\n<li>Walt Disney Co. in January agreed to buy the majority stake of a small competitor, the sports channel distributor Fubo TV. <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/business\/story\/2025-10-29\/disney-fubo-sports-hulu-live-tv-subscribe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The deal was finalized<\/a> in late October, allowing Disney to combine its Hulu + Live TV business with Fubo. The deal included a $145 million term loan from Disney. <\/li>\n<li>Charter Communications and Cox Communications <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/business\/story\/2025-05-16\/us-cable-giants-charter-and-cox-under-assault-by-streaming-services-pursue-34-5-billion-merger\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announced a $34.5-billion merger in May<\/a> that would unite Southern California\u2019s two major cable TV and internet providers into one company that would market its services under Charter\u2019s Spectrum brand.<\/li>\n<li>The <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/sports\/story\/2025-12-09\/take-swing-two-buss-brothers-consider-investing-in-athletics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jerry Buss family in June<\/a> agreed to sell its majority stake of the <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/sports\/lakers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Los Angeles Lakers<\/a>, a family-run business since 1979, to Dodgers\u2019 controlling owner <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/sports\/dodgers\/story\/2023-10-25\/dodgers-mark-walter-absentee-owner-andrew-friedman-guggenheim\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mark Walter<\/a> and TWG Global. <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/sports\/lakers\/story\/2025-06-18\/lakers-sell-majority-ownership-to-mark-walter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The deal<\/a>, which closed in October, valued the team at $10 billion \u2014 a record amount for a sports team.<\/li>\n<li>NFL announced in August  it would <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/business\/story\/2025-08-05\/nfl-takes-10-stake-in-disneys-espn-nfl-network\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">take a 10% ownership stake in Disney\u2019s ESPN<\/a>, a move designed to solidify ESPN\u2019s <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/business\/story\/2025-08-01\/nfl-takes-an-ownership-stake-in-espn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">relationship with the league for years to come<\/a>. The two companies valued the stake at $2 billion.<\/li>\n<li>Electronic Arts in September announced a <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/business\/story\/2025-12-02\/saudi-arabia-to-own-almost-all-of-ea-under-buyout-plan-report-says\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">$55-billion deal to be acquired by Saudi Arabia\u2019s Public Investment Fund<\/a>, Silver Lake private equity firm and President Trump\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner\u2019s Affinity Partners. The deal is expected to <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/business\/story\/2025-09-29\/video-game-maker-electronic-arts-to-be-acquired-and-taken-private-for-55-billion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">be the largest leveraged buyout<\/a> ever.<\/li>\n<li>Netflix has agreed to buy the Warner Bros. studios, HBO, HBO Max and the film studio\u2019s historic lot in Burbank for $72 billion. Netflix also agreed to assume about $10 billion in Warner debt \u2014 pushing the deal value to $82.7 billion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Netflix\u2019s proposed takeover of Warner Bros., if approved, would reshape the industry. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter years of expansion, the streaming market is decisively shifting toward scale and sustainability,\u201d the PwC report found. \u201cNetflix\u2019s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery confirms that the stand-alone platform era is ending, with scale becoming the primary determinant of competitiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The deal is driven, in part, because the streaming market is reaching maturity and consumers aren\u2019t interested in \u2014 or cannot afford \u2014 seven or more subscriptions to all the services available, PwC found. Streaming executives are trying to find ways to retain subscribers while increasing revenue, and consolidating with a competitor is one sure path.<\/p>\n<p>The Netflix-Warner deal \u201csets a fresh highwater mark for streaming valuations,\u201d the report found. <\/p>\n<p>However, Paramount, which is backed by the billionaire Larry Ellison family, is refusing to accept defeat in the bidding war for Warner Bros. Paramount has bypassed Warner\u2019s board and is <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/business\/story\/2025-12-08\/paramount-goes-hostile-in-bid-for-warner-bros-challenging-72-billion-bid-by-netflix\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">appealing directly to shareholders in a so-called hostile takeover.<\/a> asking them to accept $30 a share, which would value its purchase at $78 billion. <\/p>\n<p>Paramount wants to buy all of Warner Bros. Discovery, including its linear cable channels, among them: CNN, HGTV and TBS. Netflix is only interested in the streaming and studios business. With debt, the enterprise value of Paramount\u2019s proposal would top $108 billion.<\/p>\n<p>The Warner auction may not be settled until early next year.<\/p>\n<p>PwC found that investments in sports and acquisitions in the gaming space have been on the rise, and should continue to grow as live events draw big audiences. Money is flowing into team ownership, media rights and women\u2019s leagues, the firm found.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith a favorable M&amp;A backdrop to 2026, we\u2019re expecting a robust M&amp;A market that should outpace the last several years,\u201d PwC said in its report. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cMedia organizations should also explore creative deal structures \u2014 including minority stakes, joint ventures, and content-sharing alliances \u2014 to secure access to essential assets and technologies without overextending their balance sheets.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the end of 2025 approaches, it is abundantly clear this has been a year hot with big&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":450919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[207153,1582,276,207149,7299,207155,2961,224,5337,77997,4659,15329,207151,1630,6228,207152,207154,74769,207150,1628],"class_list":{"0":"post-450918","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-big-medium","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-deal-activity","12":"tag-disney","13":"tag-firm-pwc","14":"tag-la","15":"tag-los-angeles","16":"tag-losangeles","17":"tag-majority-stake","18":"tag-netflix","19":"tag-paramount","20":"tag-pwc-report","21":"tag-report","22":"tag-service","23":"tag-sport-deal","24":"tag-streaming-market","25":"tag-value","26":"tag-warner-bros-studio","27":"tag-year"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115729308494696204","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=450918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/450918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/450919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=450918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=450918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=450918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}