John Oliver Roasts Potential New ‘Business Daddy’ Paramount

On Sunday, March 1, John Oliver took aim at his possible new “business daddy.” Last week, Netflix backed out of the bidding war for Warner Bros., which means that David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance seems all but certain to take over HBO, the home of his late-night show, “Last Week Tonight.”

Although Hollywood had plenty of concerns when Netflix was poised to take over the studio, Oliver seemed more perplexed by the thought of Paramount becoming his new boss.

“It turns out we might be getting a new business daddy,” he said on the March 1 episode of “Last Week Tonight,” as per The Hollywood Reporter.

He went on to say, “Yeah, not great news. In fact, if I may quote anyone who’s ever accidentally sat on their Roku remote, ‘Oh sh-t, I’m in Paramount now, how the f-ck do I get out of this?’”

In 2022, Discovery and WarnerMedia combined to create Warner Bros. Discovery, and AT&T ceded control of HBO. At the time, Oliver reflected on the merger, saying, “Interestingly, as of Friday, AT&T officially no longer owns us, so it is goodbye from me, Business Daddy. Let me just say this.”

He then proceeded to hold up two middle fingers, adding, “which is frankly two more bars than you have ever had.”

In a joint statement, Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters called the deal “no longer financially attractive.” He went on to say that it “was always a ‘nice to have’ at the right price, not a ‘must have’ at any price.”

“The transaction we negotiated would have created shareholder value with a clear path to regulatory approval,” the statement continued. “However, we’ve always been disciplined, and at the price required to match Paramount Skydance’s latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive, so we are declining to match the Paramount Skydance bid.”

A day after John Oliver’s statement, the CEO of Paramount, David Ellison, spoke at length about the $110 billion megadeal that will not only include streaming services like HBO Max and Paramount+, but also TV channels like CBS, TNT, CNN, MTV, Nickelodeon, HGTV, and many more.

“By uniting our iconic studios complimentary streaming platforms with a global footprint, our cable and linear networks, and our world-class IP, we have the opportunity to help shape the future and build a next generation media and entertainment company. This has been our goal since day one,” Ellison said, as per The Hollywood Reporter.

“This is not about consolidation, it’s about reinventing the business,” he continued. “We want to expand our reach and enhance our ability to create the world’s most compelling stories and experiences. And we’re incredibly excited about this transaction, and it will accelerate that ambition.”

Ellison confirmed that HBO Max and Paramount+ will be combined into one major streaming platform once the deal closes and committed to 45-day theatrical windows, before sending films to premium video on demand (PVOD).

With John Oliver voicing his distaste for Paramount and “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” wrapping up later this year, one fan took to Reddit to suggest that both Oliver and Colbert should make deals with Netflix.

“Netflix has been trying to make talk shows work for them. Picking up Oliver and Colbert would be a much better way to manage it,” one user offered. “It seems like they’ve built up the goodwill in the industry, so I don’t know why they wouldn’t do it.”

“If there’s a world where I can see a late-night lineup of John Mulaney, Oliver, and Colbert on one platform, I’d be sooo happy,” another fan agreed. “The Netflix Is A Joke festival is massive. I’m sure they’d be interested in Colbert and Oliver when the opportunity comes.”