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Dec 9, 2025
Paramount launches $108B hostile takeover for Warner Bros, undercutting Netflix bid
The Dallas Morning News
The fight over the future of Hollywood just got nastier.
Paramount Skydance Corp. launched a hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. at $30 a share in cash on Monday, just days after the company agreed to a deal with Netflix Inc. The offer values Warner Bros. at $108.4 billion, including debt.
The bid compares with Netflix's offer of $27.75 in cash and stock. Paramount's offer is for the entirety of Warner Bros., while Netflix is only interested in the Hollywood studios and streaming business.
"WBD shareholders deserve an opportunity to consider our superior all-cash offer for their shares in the entire company," Paramount Chief Executive Officer David Ellison said in a statement. "Our public offer, which is on the same terms we provided to the Warner Bros. Discovery Board of Directors in private, provides superior value, and a more certain and quicker path to completion."
Paramount, the parent of CBS, MTV and other media businesses, instigated the battle several months ago when it made multiple offers for Warner Bros. The company decided to put itself up for sale in October and received several rounds of bids, including from Netflix and Comcast Corp.
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Under terms of the Dec. 5 deal announced with Netflix, Warner Bros. will continue with plans to spin off its cable TV networks, such as CNN, TNT and the Discovery Channel, before the planned merger closes.
Paramount had privately argued that its $30 a share offer was greater than Netflix's, although that depends on the value investors place on the shares they receive in the spin off. According a person close to the Paramount bid, they are valuing the spinoff at about $2 a share.
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Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Geetha Ranganathan estimates that the cable channels are worth $4 for every Warner Bros. share, making the Netflix
