TLDR
- Paramount Skydance made a $108.4 billion all-cash offer for Warner Bros. Discovery at $30 per share, topping Netflix’s $72 billion deal from last week
- The bid is backed entirely by the Ellison family and RedBird Capital, with Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds agreeing to forgo governance rights to avoid regulatory scrutiny
- Netflix’s deal would split Warner Bros. Discovery, buying only studios and streaming assets while spinning off CNN and other networks into a separate company
- Paramount wants to acquire the entire company, arguing this provides better value and certainty for shareholders than Netflix’s cash-and-stock proposal
- President Trump raised antitrust concerns about the Netflix deal, noting it would control roughly a third of US streaming activity
Paramount Skydance dropped a bombshell Monday morning with a $108.4 billion all-cash offer for Warner Bros. Discovery. The bid comes just days after Netflix announced its own deal to acquire parts of WBD.
The offer values Warner Bros. Discovery at $30 per share in cash. That’s a premium over the Netflix deal announced Friday, which valued WBD at $27.75 per share through a mix of cash and stock.
Warner Bros. Discovery stock jumped as much as 7% on the news. Paramount shares rose more than 6%. Netflix stock dropped as much as 4.5%.
Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc., WBD
This marks Paramount’s fourth attempt to acquire the Hollywood studio. The company made three unsuccessful bids earlier this year, with the most recent coming in October at $58 billion.
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav rejected those earlier offers. The company believed they undervalued WBD and questioned whether Paramount could actually raise the money.
Paramount Simplifies Its Financing Structure
Paramount addressed those concerns head-on with Monday’s announcement. The company secured commitments for the full purchase price.
The Ellison family and RedBird Capital will backstop 100% of the $40.7 billion equity portion. Larry Ellison, founder and executive chairman of Oracle, and his son David, who runs Paramount, are putting their money behind the deal.
Bank of America, Citi, and Apollo Global Management committed $54 billion in debt financing. The structure is much cleaner than Paramount’s previous offers, which relied on a complex web of investors.
Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds are still involved. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, Abu Dhabi’s L’imad Holding Company, and Qatar’s Qatar Investment Authority will provide equity.
But here’s the catch: they’ve all agreed to give up governance rights. No board seats, no voting power on their investments. Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners agreed to the same terms.
This structure keeps the deal outside the jurisdiction of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. That removes one potential regulatory roadblock.
The Netflix Deal Faces Antitrust Headwinds
Netflix’s deal carries its own regulatory risks. The streaming giant would control roughly a third of US streaming activity if the merger goes through.
President Trump already flagged antitrust concerns. “Well, that’s got to go through a process, and we’ll see what happens,” Trump said Sunday. “But it is a big market share. It could be a problem.”
The Netflix deal also splits up Warner Bros. Discovery. Netflix would acquire the film and TV studios, HBO, and HBO Max. Everything else gets spun off into a separate public company called Discovery Global.
That includes CNN, TNT Sports, and Discovery Channel. Discovery Global would start trading as its own entity in mid-2026 under the Netflix plan.
Paramount CEO David Ellison values those linear cable assets at about $1 per share. Warner Bros. Discovery executives privately estimate them closer to $3 per share.
Paramount’s offer is for the entire company. No spinoffs, no separate entities. Just one clean transaction.
“We are offering shareholders $17.6 billion more cash than the deal they currently have signed up with Netflix,” Ellison told CNBC on Monday. He added that $30 per share isn’t Paramount’s final offer, suggesting the company could bid higher.
Paramount made a revised bid on December 1 after hearing from Warner Bros. Discovery about needed changes. When Paramount increased to $30 per share, CEO David Zaslav never responded, according to Ellison.
The Netflix deal was agreed to by both boards but still needs federal antitrust approval. The Justice Department will review whether a combined Netflix-WBD creates too much market concentration.
Paramount characterized its offer as providing “superior” value with more certainty. The company argues Netflix’s cash-and-stock mix exposes shareholders to volatility and a “protracted multi-jurisdictional regulatory clearance process.”
Ellison told Zaslav via text that Paramount could go even higher than $30 per share. The hostile bid goes directly to Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders rather than through the board.
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