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Paramount Launches Hostile Bid for Warner Bros. Why It Says Its Offer Is Better Than Netflix’s.

Dec 08, 2025 09:21:00 -0500 by George Glover | #Media

Paramount Skydance said on Monday that it was launching a hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. (Eric Thayer/Getty Images)

Key Points

Paramount Skydance launched a hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery on Monday, days after Warner struck a deal with streamer Netflix .

Less than an hour later, President Trump criticized Paramount, which owns CBS slamming CBS show 60 Minutes for airing an interview with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who said the president had betrayed his voters. It wasn’t clear if that was a reaction to Paramount’s bid.

“THEY ARE NO BETTER THAN THE OLD OWNERSHIP,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. David Ellison, son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, has been Paramount CEO since a merger with Skydance Media closed in August.

Paramount said in a statement that its all-cash, $30-a-share offer for all of Warner Discovery was a better deal than Netflix’s for shareholders and more likely to be cleared by regulators.

Paramount stock jumped 9% on Monday, while Netflix dropped 3.4%. Warner Bros. Discovery rose 4.4%. The S&P 500 was down 0.4%.

“Today’s move was entirely expected, said Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos at Monday’s UBS Global Media and Communications Conference. “We have a deal done, and we’ and we’re incredibly happy with the deal. We think it’s great for our shareholders, it’s great for consumers.”

Paramount’s counter offer marks the latest plot twist in a takeover saga that is likely to upend the Hollywood pecking order.

The CBS parent was widely believed to be the front-runner to buy Warner Bros. before Friday, when Netflix said it had struck a deal that would give the streaming giant control of Warner’s film and television studios, streaming service HBO Max.

Netflix’s offer values Warner at $27.75 a share: $23.25 in cash and the remainder paid in Netflix stock, implying an enterprise value of around $82.7 billion.

Paramount’s all-cash offer of $30 per share equates to an enterprise value of $108.4 billion. The company said the deal would be backstopped by the Ellison family and RedBird Capital, and debt fully committed by Bank of America, Citi, and Apollo.

The deal values are difficult to compare, though. Unlike Paramount, Netflix isn’t offering to buy Warner-Discovery’s substantial cable television assets. Any comparison requires determining the value of those cable assets and the breakdown of debt between the businesses.

If investors think that the cable channels are worth more than $2.25 per share, then Netflix’s offer is better. Paramount said on its call today that the networks are worth $1 per share.

“We are taking our offer directly to shareholders to give them the opportunity to act in their own best interests and maximize the value of their shares,” Paramount CEO David Ellison said in a statement.

“We’re here to fight for value for our shareholders and for WBD shareholders,” Ellison said in a follow-up conference call. “The motivation for this effort is simple.”

Paramount’s offer include investments from the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar. The President’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will also participate via his Affinity Partners fund. None of these entities would have board representation or other governance rights.

Doubts about the Netflix-Warner deal emerged over the weekend, with President Donald Trump warning on Sunday that the acquisition “could be a problem” as it would give the streamer “a very big market share.”

On its call, Paramount said that it had a clearer path to regulatory approval and that Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders would get their payouts more quickly under its deal.

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