As at Warner Bros, the consolidated operations are in the red: the group burned $467 million in the first quarter while it was profitable last year at the same time.

While it remains clearly in the red, Paramount+ - the streaming segment - gained 4.1 million new subscribers over the quarter, a performance far superior to Warner's Max formula, no doubt linked to the real success of the Yellowstone saga.

This brings the number of subscribers to the service to a total of 60 million, 36 million less than Warner. This is also far behind Netflix's 232 million subscribers and Disney's 162 million subscribers.

The financial leverage is certainly less problematic at Paramount than at Warner, but one cannot ignore the $20 billion in long-term financial obligations, which represent almost twice the market capitalization of $11 billion.

Paramount has proven its ability to produce blockbusters one after the other. Yellowstone, Top Gun, Criminal Minds, etc. have all been blockbusters. Good point, but for what added value in the long term? Unlike Disney's classics, for example, these successes have a limited lifespan.

In this respect, is it really possible to make the colossal production investments undertaken by Paramount to match its competitors profitable? Colossal investments which, let's underline it, have caused the suspension of the dividend...

The market is not convinced: at $17 per share, the valuation is roughly x6 the average annual cash profit made over the last decade. Certainly, the next decade will be very different from the one that has just passed; the consensus remains clearly pessimistic.

The Paramount case is further clouded by the curious statements of the two patriarchs at the head of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. The former recently admitted that streaming was not a viable business model in its current state; the latter recalled that he had always stayed away from an entertainment industry. industry where profits go to celebrities rather than to shareholders.

So what is Berkshire doing with 15% of Paramount's capital? A mystery. Some would bet that this is a bet on a future acquisition. Paramount's catalog and subscribers would be a great asset for Amazon, for example, if it decided to accelerate in streaming, with a valuation for the Seattle giant that would be much more digestible than that of rival Warner Bros Discovery.