By Mackenzie Tatananni

Paramount Skydance shares were heading for their lowest close in nearly two decades on Thursday, marking the lowest point in what has been a miserable stretch for shares of the media conglomerate.

The stock dropped 2.6% to $8.76 on Thursday, putting Paramount on track for its lowest close since August 2009, according to Dow Jones Market Data. It is the culmination of a nine-day losing streak that has seen Paramount fall nearly 27% -- the stock's longest losing streak since June 2015.

The share price has whipsawed violently over the past several months. Shares were taken down to $10 in August following the announcement of Paramount's merger with Skydance. That downward pressure was followed by a massive reversal, with the share price surging past $15 by the end of August as retail investors piled into the new publicly-traded company.

The rally gained momentum in September, with the stock closing at a high of $19.55 on Sept. 23, fueled by a massive fundamental catalyst: Paramount's majority cash bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, accounting for both its cable networks and movie studios.

However, those gains faded the following month. By the end of October, it was clear Paramount likely would have to engage in a bidding war with Netflix for control of the media giant.

Although Paramount came out victorious at the end of February when Netflix refused to raise its offer, concerns around the fundamentals of the deal aren't going anywhere. Shares closed at a recent peak of $13.44 on Feb. 27, but have fallen sharply since.

The company has agreed to pay $31 a share in cash for Warner Bros. with a "ticking fee" of 25 cents a quarter if closing is delayed past Sept. 30.

The deal values Warner Bros. equity at $81 billion, plus about $29 billion in assumed net debt. Warner Bros. rose 0.5% at $27.49 on Thursday.

Paramount has $54 billion in committed bank financing to fund the acquisition, with an additional $47 billion in equity financing backed by the Ellison family and Redbird Capital Partners.

The company is navigating a massive debt load, which has triggered downgrades at multiple credit agencies. Both Fitch and S&P Global have assigned Paramount a BB+ issuer credit rating, also referred to as junk status.

Paramount will have nearly $80 billion in debt after the deal and plans to deleverage rapidly, a goal that has raised eyebrows up and down Wall Street. Analysts also have cautioned that high interest costs on its debt may not be comfortably covered by near-term earnings.

Along with the downgrade to BB+ from BBB-, Fitch placed Paramount on rating watch negative earlier this month. The agency noted that the acquisition, if completed, "will result in materially higher leverage," citing Paramount's $58 billion debt commitment -- which includes an existing $3.5 billion revolving credit facility -- to fund the acquisition.

Write to Mackenzie Tatananni at mackenzie.tatananni@barrons.com

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March 19, 2026 12:36 ET (16:36 GMT)

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