Let no one ever say that the sale of entertainment giant Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) was not, in and of itself, entertaining. We have seen fights, skulduggery, and more tricks than a backyard magic show come out of this one. And Paramount Skydance (PSKY) may be considering one more to ultimately come out on top: a proxy battle. This left Warner shareholders a bit uneasy, and sent shares down fractionally in the closing minutes of Thursday’s trading.
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Such a move is already being called, possibly, “…the most explosive proxy battle in the history of the entertainment business.” Just three days ago, Paramount filed suit against Warner, looking for an order that would require the Warner board to show just what went into the decision to go with Netflix (NFLX) despite everything that has happened so far. And Paramount may ultimately take this farther, by using the shares it has to vote for new members of the board later on.
With Warner’s annual meeting about to be set—the window would open in about three weeks—Paramount may actually have enough vote control to nominate, and approve, a new slate of directors to open board talks. Paramount could also pull in voters to vote “no” on a potential special meeting to approve the deal before the annual meeting even starts.
Then Came Weiss, and Bikes
Things got unusual in the meantime, though. Weiss Ratings recently released a report suggesting that Warner stock was a bad buy right now. In fact, Weiss Ratings gave Warner stock a D+ rating, pointing out “…sharp declines in earnings growth, revenue growth, and cash inflows.” Given that much of Warner’s recent share price growth came from a potential merger, this may not be out of line.
But Warner also delivered on the sports front. WBD Sports announced the 2026 Mountain Bike World Series teams, with 40 teams qualifying for the event. Qualifying for the event allows these teams to enter registered riders in every round using the format already established. The teams were decided based on total points earnings and riders on each team as of October 28, 2025. Better yet, the top 10 teams have a two-year license.
Is WBD Stock a Good Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on WBD stock based on five Buys and 10 Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 202.32% rally in its share price over the past year, the average WBD price target of $25.61 per share implies 9.92% downside risk.
