TLDR
- Warner Bros. Discovery will leave both the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 next week.
- The exit follows the company’s $81 billion merger with Paramount Skydance.
- The merger deal is expected to close on October 6.
- Moderna will take Warner Bros. Discovery’s spot in the Nasdaq 100 on October 9.
- Twilio will take Warner Bros. Discovery’s spot in the S&P 500 on October 6.
Warner Bros. Discovery is leaving two of the biggest stock indexes in the United States. The company is completing its merger with Paramount Skydance next week. Nasdaq and S&P Dow Jones Indices announced the index changes late Thursday.
Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc., WBD
The merger is valued at $81 billion. Both companies confirmed the deal is expected to close on October 6. Warner Bros. Discovery owns HBO Max and several major TV networks.
Once the merger closes, Warner Bros. Discovery will no longer trade as a standalone public company. This means it must be removed from the indexes it currently belongs to. Index providers replace exiting companies with new ones to keep the indexes at full size.
Who Is Replacing Warner Bros. Discovery
Moderna will take Warner Bros. Discovery’s place in the Nasdaq 100. The change takes effect before the market opens on October 9. Moderna makes vaccines and other medical treatments.
Twilio will take Warner Bros. Discovery’s place in the S&P 500. That change takes effect before trading begins on October 6. Twilio is a cloud communications company.
Both stocks rose in early trading Friday. Moderna shares climbed 1.6%. Twilio shares gained 1.5%. Futures tracking both indexes also moved higher ahead of the September jobs report.
Stocks often rise after being added to a major index. This happens because passive funds that track the index must buy shares to match it. Those funds are required to hold every stock in the index they follow.
Moderna’s Strong Year
Moderna has had a strong year leading up to its index addition. The stock was up 541% for the year through Thursday’s close, according to Barron’s. Reuters reported the stock has climbed more than sixfold in 2026, pushing Moderna’s valuation to roughly $75 billion.
Shares more than doubled in a single trading session in August. This came after Moderna and Merck released results from a Phase 3 trial. The trial tested an investigational cancer vaccine called intismeran autogene. The results were described as promising.
Warner Bros. Discovery is also being removed from other major index providers. This includes MSCI, in addition to S&P and Nasdaq. The removals are tied directly to the merger closing.
The Paramount Skydance merger has taken close to a year to finalize. Reuters described the process as a months-long holdup. The deal is now in its final stages ahead of next week’s close.
Trading of Warner Bros. Discovery shares under its current structure will end once the deal is complete. The Nasdaq 100 change takes effect October 9. The S&P 500 change takes effect October 6, the same day the merger is expected to close.
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