List of largest media and entertainment mergers and acquisitions

List of largest media and entertainment mergers and acquisitions is a list of the largest publicly announced mergers, acquisitions, and other major corporate transactions involving companies in the media and entertainment industries, with a transaction value of at least US$1 billion. The list covers film and television studios, television networks, streaming services, video game companies, music companies, and publishing companies. Transactions are ranked by their announced deal value at the time the agreement was first made public, rather than by their eventual cost, inflation-adjusted value, or later changes in market value.

The largest transaction on the list is the AOL–Time Warner merger, announced in 2000 at $163.4 billion. It combined AOL's internet business with Time Warner's extensive media and entertainment assets, including Warner Bros., HBO, CNN, and other properties. The second-largest transaction is Paramount Skydance's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, announced in 2025 for $110.9 billion, while the third-largest is AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner, announced in 2016 for $85.4 billion.

Large-scale consolidation in the entertainment industry accelerated during the late 20th and early 21st centuries as companies sought to combine content production, distribution, and consumer platforms. Major examples include Disney's acquisitions of Capital Cities/ABC and 21st Century Fox, Comcast's acquisition of NBCUniversal, and the creation of Warner Bros. Discovery. In the 2020s, consolidation expanded further into streaming and video games, with transactions such as Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard and other large gaming deals.

List

Acquirer(s)TargetYearDeal value (US$)Inflation adjusted (US$)Ref(s). America Online Time Warner2001163,400,000,000 Paramount Skydance Warner Bros. Discovery2026110,900,000,000 AT&T Time Warner2018108,700,000,000 Charter Communications Time Warner Cable201578,700,000,000 Microsoft Activision Blizzard202375,400,000,000 The Walt Disney Company 21st Century Fox201971,300,000,000 PIF (and others) Electronic Arts202655,000,000,000 AT&T DirecTV201549,000,000,000 Discovery, Inc. WarnerMedia202243,000,000,000 Comcast Sky201839,000,000,000 Virgin Media O2202138,000,000,000 Viacom CBS Corporation199935,000,000,000 Vivendi Seagram/Universal200034,000,000,000 Liberty Global Virgin Media 201323,300,000,000 Fox Corporation Roku202622,000,000,000 Charter Communications Cox Communications202521,900,000,000 Rogers Communications Shaw Communications202120,800,000,000 The Walt Disney Company Capital Cities/ABC199619,000,000,000 Activision Vivendi Games200818,900,000,000 Discovery, Inc. Scripps Networks Interactive201714,600,000,000 National Broadcasting Company, Inc. Vivendi Universal Entertainment200314,000,000,000 Comcast NBC Universal200913,750,000,000 Take-Two Interactive Zynga202212,700,000,000 Vivendi Canal+200011,400,000,000 Sinclair Broadcast Group Fox Sports Networks201910,600,000,000 Viacom Paramount Communications19949,750,000,000 BSkyB Sky Europe20149,000,000,000 The Walt Disney Company Hulu (Comcast's 33% stake)20238,610,000,000 Tencent Supercell (81.4% stake)20168,600,000,000 Amazon MGM Holdings20228,450,000,000 Microsoft ZeniMax Media20218,100,000,000 Skydance Media Paramount Global20258,000,000,000 Banijay Entertainment All3Media20268,000,000,000 The Walt Disney Company Pixar20067,400,000,000 Matsushita MCA Inc.19906,590,000,000 Nexstar Media Group Tegna20266,200,000,000 Savvy Games Group Moonton20266,000,000,000 Activision Blizzard King20165,900,000,000 Seagram MCA/Universal19955,900,000,000 News Corp Dow Jones20075,600,000,000 Savvy Games Group Scopely20234,900,000,000 Sony (and others) MGM Holdings20054,800,000,000 Nexstar Media Group Media General20164,600,000,000 Platinum Equity McGraw Hill20214,500,000,000 The Walt Disney Company Marvel Entertainment20094,400,000,000 The Walt Disney Company Lucasfilm20124,050,000,000 ByteDance Moonton20214,000,000,000 Hasbro Entertainment One20194,000,000,000 Comcast DreamWorks Animation20163,800,000,000 Sony Bungie20223,700,000,000 Savvy Games Group Niantic Games20253,500,000,000 Wanda Group Legendary Entertainment20163,500,000,000 Sony Columbia Pictures19893,400,000,000 The Walt Disney Company ABC Family Worldwide20012,900,000,000 Vivendi Pathé19992,590,000,000 Microsoft Mojang20142,500,000,000 Canal+ MultiChoice20252,500,000,000 Live Nation Ticketmaster20102,500,000,000 Electronic Arts Glu Mobile20212,400,000,000 EQT Keywords Studios (51% stake)20242,390,000,000 Sony EMI Music Publishing20112,200,000,000 Vivendi Universal Houghton Mifflin Harcourt20012,200,000,000 Banijay Group Endemol Shine Group20202,200,000,000 Endemol Shine Group20142,200,000,000 Comcast ITV (Media & Entertainment)20262,100,000,000 Sony CBS Records Group19882,000,000,000Sony completes $2 billion purchase of CBS Records upi.com 5 January 1988, Retrieved on 3 December 2017 Facebook Oculus VR20142,000,000,000 Corus Entertainment Shaw Media20162,000,000,000. Trustar Capital Lingxi Games20262,000,000,000 Playtika SuperPlay20241,950,000,000 Universal Music Group EMI Recorded Music20111,900,000,000 Zynga Peak20201,800,000,000 Bandai Namco20051,700,000,000 KKR Simon & Schuster20231,620,000,000 Random House Penguin Books20131,600,000,000 The Walt Disney Company BAMTech Media (42% stake)20171,580,000,000 The Walt Disney Company Epic Games (9% stake)20241,500,000,000 Tencent Leyou20201,500,000,000 RedBird IMI All3Media20241,450,000,000 Electronic Arts Playdemic20211,400,000,000 Tencent Vantage Studios (26.3% stake)20251,300,000,000 Tencent Sumo Group20211,270,000,000 Electronic Arts Codemasters20201,200,000,000 Tencent Easybrain20251,200,000,000 Sony Sony BMG (Bertelsmann's 50% stake)20081,200,000,000 Sony Crunchyroll20201,175,000,000 Canal+ M7 Group20191,100,000,000 Bertelsmann Penguin Random House (Pearson's 22% stake)20171,000,000,000 Scopely GSN Games20211,000,000,000

Failed/abandoned deals +Acquirer(s)TargetYearDeal value(US$ millions)Inflation adjusted(US$ millions)Ref(s). Netflix Warner Bros. Discovery202682,700,000,000 Comcast Warner Bros. Discovery202581,000,000,000 21st Century Fox Time Warner201480,000,000,000 Comcast 21st Century Fox201865,000,000,000 Pershing Square Universal Music Group202664,000,000,000 Comcast The Walt Disney Company200454,000,000,000 21st Century Fox Sky201837,000,000,000 Sony & Apollo Paramount Global202426,000,000,000 Starz Entertainment Warner Bros. Discovery (Linear Networks)202525,000,000,000 Fox Corporation News Corp202224,000,000,000 Allen Media Group Paramount Global202414,000,000,000 Sony Pictures Networks India Zee Entertainment 202410,000,000,000 SoftBank Group Universal Music Group20138,500,000,000 Vivendi Ubisoft20166,400,000,000 Edgar Bronfman Jr. Paramount Global20244,600,000,000 Warner Music Group EMI20064,000,000,000 Allen Media Group BET Media Group20233,500,000,000 Penguin Random House Simon & Schuster20222,275,000,000 Electronic Arts Take-Two Interactive20081,900,000,000 Steinberg Group The Walt Disney Company (49% stake)19841,400,000,000 News Corporation Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer19891,350,000,000 Time Warner EMI20001,300,000,000 ITV Entertainment One20161,300,000,000 Take-Two Interactive Vivendi Universal Games20031,000,000,000

See also List of largest video game mergers and acquisitions

References