After several hectic months, the acquisition saga surrounding Warner Bros. Discovery (NASDAQ: WBD) has come to what appears to be a resolution. Paramount Skydance (NASDAQ: PSKY) upped its bid for the entire company to $31 per share in February and altered key terms of its deal to assuage Warner Bros.
Entertainment behemoth Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) subsequently dropped its bid for WBD’s streaming and studio assets, leaving Paramount as the victor in the hard-fought ordeal.
For WBD shareholders, the question is “what’s next?" With the stock trading in the upper $27 range and Paramount agreeing to buy the company at $31, shareholders effectively face two paths: selling now and redeploying capital elsewhere, or holding the stock to capture the difference between the current price and the deal value.
Notably, in March, WBD insiders sold over $200 million worth of the stock, a telling indication of their strategy. Let’s break down these sales and other considerations in detail to provide perspective on this name going forward.
WBD Insiders Are Trimming Their Positions in the Stock Significantly
In total, MarketBeat has tracked approximately $213.3 million worth of insider sales of WBD in March. This represents a massive uptick in insider selling versus the recent past. Between September and December of 2025, MarketBeat tracked just $30.6 million of selling. The selling was broad-based across company insiders. Overall, six WBD insiders sold the stock in March, showing that this selling isn’t just due to the personal liquidity needs of one or two individuals.
Diving into the specific trades provides more interesting information. In terms of raw numbers, CEO David Zaslav was the largest seller of WBD stock. Zaslav’s FORM 4 SEC filing shows that he sold approximately 4 million shares and held 7.2 million shares after the transaction.
This is a big move for Zaslav, WBD’s top executive, who reduced his number of shares held by a whopping 36%. However, Zaslav still holds a very large amount of shares, worth almost $200 million.
His actual position is also much higher than what's reflected solely by the number of shares he holds, as he also holds millions of WBD options that aren't included in that number. Estimates suggest that his total holdings in WBD are worth more than $600 million. Nonetheless, his significant sale warrants notice.
Additionally, Zaslav isn’t the only insider to drop his stake in the company by a very substantial amount. Gunnar Wiedenfels and Bruce Campbell both reduced their positions by roughly half. Gerhard Zeiler made a similar move, but may also have significant options exposure that makes his actual remaining position much higher. Insiders Priya Aiyar and Amy Girdwood only reduced their shares held by around 20% and 7%, respectively. The options logic applied to Zeiler applies to them as well.
Regardless of these nuances, the story remains the same. Some of WBD’s most important insiders are making big-time sales of the stock, something investors should take into account going forward.
WBD Could Still See Meaningful Gains If Approved
Now, let's look at the return that holding WBD shares could potentially generate through the close of the transaction. Based on a share price of $27.50, a move to $31 would result in a return of approximately 13%.
Notably, Paramount and WBD are expecting their deal to close by the end of September 2026. Thus, this 13% return could come during a period of around six months. Consider that the S&P 500’s average historical return over a full year is around 10%. The potential to generate a slightly higher return over half that period could be a solid proposition.
The price Paramount pays also increases by 25 cents each quarter it takes for the deal to close beyond Sept. 30. That would be a roughly 0.9% additional return each quarter, based on a price of $27.50. While this is a bonus for shareholders, it is certainly nothing to write home about.
The deal also still needs to receive regulatory approval, both from agencies in the United States and Europe. Some believe that U.S. approval won’t be too difficult to achieve, although the process could drag on overseas. A key risk to consider is the possibility that the deal won’t receive approval.
WBD: A Trim-and-Hold Approach May Be Appealing
Overall, WBD insiders are selling, but by no means completely getting out of the stock. Furthermore, there is a chance that WBD could generate a nice return over the coming months should the deal gain approval. This combination may lead some investors to consider trimming WBD as a middle-ground approach going forward.
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The article "Is the Warner Bros. Saga Near Its End? Insiders Sell +$200M in Shares" first appeared on MarketBeat.
