Warner Bros. Stock Is About to Leave the Nasdaq. Here’s What’s Replacing It.

Warner Bros. Discovery is set to leave the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 next week. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Key Points

• Warner Bros. Discovery is set to complete its $81 billion merger with Paramount Skydance next week, with the deal expected to close on Oct. 6.
• Moderna will replace Warner Bros. Discovery in the Nasdaq 100 before the market opens on Oct. 9.
• Twilio will take the spot of Warner Bros. Discovery in the S&P 500 before the start of trading on Oct. 6.

After almost a year of twists and turns worthy of any Hollywood thriller, Warner Bros. Discovery is set to complete its $81 billion merger with Paramount Skydance next week.

Nasdaq and S&P Dow Jones Indices revealed late Thursday which stocks would be replacing the HBO Max parent in their flagship indexes.

Drug maker Moderna will replace Warner Bros. in the Nasdaq 100 before the market opens on Oct. 9. Cloud platform Twilio will take its spot in the S&P 500 before the start of trading on Oct. 6.

Both stocks were rising ahead of Friday’s opening bell. Moderna advanced 1.6% and Twilio climbed 1.5%. Futures tracking the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 were also rising ahead of the September jobs report.

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Created with Highcharts 9.0.1Source: FactSetAs of Oct. 1, 4 p.m. ET

Created with Highcharts 9.0.1ModernaTwilioMay 2026Oct.-50050100150200250300350%

Stocks tend to rally when they are added to a major index because of the popularity of passive funds, that are required to buy shares to match their benchmark.

Warner Bros. will leave both the Nasdaq and the S&P when it completes its merger with Paramount next week. The deal is expected to close on Oct. 6, both companies said on Wednesday.

Moderna’s elevation to the Nasdaq 100 comes after a stellar spell for the stock, which was up 541% for the year through Thursday’s close.

Shares more than doubled in a single session in August after Moderna and Merck’s investigational cancer vaccine intismeran autogene showed promising results in a Phase 3 trial.

Write to George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com

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