Paramount Starts Hostile Bid To Acquire Warner Bros. Discovery After Netflix Announcement

TV & Film

Dec 10

The latest round of bidding has ended, and Warner Bros. Discovery is officially leaning towards Netflix as the entity to acquire its assets. This deal will merge Netflix with the studios and streaming portion of WBD, and values the shares at a cash offer of $23.25. Other assets will be spun off into a third party. In response, Paramount-Skydance is proceeding with an attempted hostile takeover of WBD. The company is targeting shareholders specifically, presenting its all-cash offer of $30 per share.

In an offer to purchase filing from December 8, 2025, the company broke down their offer, and how the latest bidding round proceeded, “The final proposal stated Paramount was ready to immediately sign the transaction, accompanied by fully executable agreements with fully committed debt financing and fully committed equity financing from the Ellison family. Despite these facts, the Warner Bros. Board and its advisors chose on that pivotal December 4th to make no effort to even speak with Paramount or its representatives about anything.” Paramount previously complained about unfair treatment during the bidding process, alleging that Netflix was shown favoritism off the bat.

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They went on to call out the perceived inferior choice made by WBD, “Instead, the Warner Bros. Board, in possession of a $30 per share cash offer with a clearer and faster path to regulatory approval, committed Warner Bros. and its stockholders to an obviously financially inferior transaction with extraordinary regulatory risk and a longer timeline to a possible closing.” The WBD board will respond to this latest offer within ten business days; the offer expires on January 8, 2026.

A deal with Netflix poses a risk of a streaming monopoly, as the parent platform and HBO Max are among the top services in the market. Not only does this pose a risk of market dominance, but it also reduces competition, potentially leading to higher prices. While there is still risk with a Paramount deal, the issue lies in concerns about the consolidation of two major motion picture production companies and how advertisers and local productions will fare. The company believes that relevant concerns about its acquisition are easier to work around than those of its competitors.

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