Paramount Launches Hostile Bid for WBD After Netflix Deal

Paramount Skydance has launched a hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, offering an all-cash $30-per-share deal, after WBD entered a definitive agreement with Netflix last week.

Paramount is offering an all-cash $30 per share offer for all of Warner and HBO Max, equating to an enterprise value of $108.4 billion, which it claims is a better deal than that provided by Netflix, which equates to a value of $82.7 billion.

“The Paramount offer for the entirety of WBD provides shareholders $18 billion more in cash than the Netflix consideration,” the company said in a statement. “WBD’s board of directors’ recommendation of the Netflix transaction over Paramount’s offer is based on an illusory prospective valuation of Global Networks that is unsupported by the business fundamentals and encumbered by high levels of financial leverage assigned to the entity.”

David Ellison, CEO and preisdent of Paramount, said, “WBD shareholders deserve an opportunity to consider our superior all-cash offer for their shares in the entire company. 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. We believe the WBD board of directors is pursuing an inferior proposal, which exposes shareholders to a mix of cash and stock, an uncertain future trading value of the Global Networks linear cable business and a challenging regulatory approval process. 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.”

He continued, “We believe our offer will create a stronger Hollywood. It is in the best interests of the creative community, consumers and the movie theater industry. We believe they will benefit from the enhanced competition, higher content spend and theatrical release output, and a greater number of movies in theaters as a result of our proposed transaction. We look forward to working to expeditiously deliver this opportunity so that all stakeholders can begin to capitalize on the benefits of the combined company.”

Paramount’s offer, approved unanimously by its board of directors, is scheduled to expire at 5 p.m. EST on January 8, 2026, unless the offer is extended.