Investment Banking Fees Hit $225 Million on Warner Bros. Deal as Boutiques Cash In

The investment bankers advising on Warner Bros. Discovery's takeover are working through the holidays this year, and for good reason: the company has promised to pay up to $225 million in advisory fees, creating a windfall for the boutique firms handling the transaction.

The fee structure reveals how lucrative M&A advisory work has become for specialized investment banks, particularly smaller firms that can command outsized payouts relative to their headcount. Warner Bros. has retained three advisory firms for the deal, with two boutiques—Evercore and Allen & Company—positioned to collect the bulk of the fees. Evercore stands to earn $55 million despite employing just 168 senior managing directors across its entire franchise, while Allen & Company is eligible for $85 million with an even smaller roster of senior bankers.

The deal's advisors have been working around the clock since Netflix announced its proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. Bankers held daily morning calls for two months leading up to the announcement, including multiple sessions over Thanksgiving weekend. Now they face additional work as Warner Bros. navigates a competing bid from Paramount Skydance, whose own advisors are equally occupied.

"We see the world speeding up. There's more disruption, there's more dislocation, the cost of standing still is greater today than it's ever been," said Paul Taubman, founder and CEO of PJT Partners, in December 2025, capturing the frenetic pace driving M&A activity.

The Warner Bros. transaction illustrates the economics that make boutique advisory firms attractive to both dealmakers and the bankers themselves. These specialized firms operate with lean teams but command fees comparable to bulge-bracket banks, creating exceptional per-partner economics.

Evercore's recent acquisition of London-based Robey Warshaw demonstrates the value proposition. The boutique employed just five senior managing directors but generated £60 million ($80 million) in annual revenue over the past three years. The firm had advised on seven of the ten largest deals in UK history and worked with over a quarter of FTSE 100 constituents. In one year, the highest-paid partner took home £40.5 million—a compensation level that rivals top hedge fund managers.

The intensity of M&A work has become a defining characteristic of the profession. One former banker told the Financial Times he had "missed Christmas Eve and New Year's and the Fourth of July holidays for deals a lot smaller than this." Another compared the schedule to professional athletes: "When the NBA players play on Christmas Day, nobody says our holidays are ruined. They say isn't it great you're in the NBA. This is as good as it gets for investment bankers."

For CFOs evaluating M&A advisors, the Warner Bros. deal highlights a shift in the advisory landscape. Boutique firms now compete directly with traditional investment banks on the largest transactions, often bringing specialized expertise and senior-level attention that justifies premium fees. The model works because these firms maintain low overhead while focusing exclusively on high-value advisory work, allowing them to pay bankers at levels that make holiday work more palatable.

The competing bids for Warner Bros. mean advisors on all sides will remain engaged through the year-end period, with the final fee pool potentially expanding if the transaction becomes more complex. For the boutiques involved, it represents the kind of marquee assignment that can define a firm's year—and make a few partners exceptionally wealthy in the process.