Paramount Skydance has launched a hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, in a dramatic new effort that could block Netflix from buying the company.
Last week, Netflix emerged as the winner of a lengthy bidding war for Warner Bros., and announced plans to buy much of the century-old company for $72.5 billion. Paramount had been Netflix’s biggest rival throughout the process — and one which seemingly had the blessing of President Trump.
Now, Paramount has said it will go straight to Warner Bros. shareholders with its all-cash, $30-per-share offer. (Netflix’s potential deal was for a $27.75 mix of cash and stock, only for Warner Bros.’ studio and streaming assets, while Paramount has said it wants the whole of Warner Bros. Discovery.)
“WBD shareholders deserve an opportunity to consider our superior all-cash offer for their shares in the entire company,” Paramount boss David Ellison said in a statement today, announcing his company’s hostile bid. “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.”
While its difficult to compare the two companies’ offers for Warner Bros. Discovery due to the different parts of the company each wants to provide, Ellison also suggests here that his deal was more likely to get approved — and get done quicker.
The suggestion comes following remarks made by President Trump over the weekend regarding Netflix’s bid for Warner Bros., as reported by BBC News, in which he suggested the sale “could be a problem” as it would see Netflix’s “big market share” in TV streaming potentially “go up by a lot.” Trump has previously indicated he would be taking a personal interest in the deal, as it goes through the regulatory process.
But it’s not just the president who has spoken out in concern at the deal. Last week, Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren called on the Justice Department to examine Netflix’s buyout of Warner Bros. in detail, branding the deal “like an anti-monopoly nightmare.”
“We believe our offer will create a stronger Hollywood,” Ellison continued. “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.”
Indeed, Paramount has now launched StrongerHollywood.com, essentially an advertisement for its deal to acquire Warner Bros., with various comments on why it believes its offering is superior to the bid from Netflix. The website states that Netflix’s deal faces “much more challenging approvals” and “is likely to face a significantly longer regulatory approval process (or be blocked entirely).”
Paramount is likely keen to make its arguments in public as it now requires Warner Bros. shareholders to actively agree to sell their stock — with a deadline of January 8, 2026 to decide.
For its part, Netflix has said it intends to continue releasing Warner Bros. films in theaters for now, though expects shorter theatrical runs for movies in future “to meet the audience where they are, quicker.” Over the weekend, Netflix issues a note of caution over its bid in an email to subscribers, saying that nothing would change for now — including any potential price rises.
Whichever company does end up buying Warner Bros. will gain ownership of a vault of franchises, most notably including the DC Universe which is now being overseen by James Gunn, Game of Thrones and its expanded slate of spin-offs, and Harry Potter, which will soon be rebooted via an ambitious new TV series.
For its part, Netflix has already said it plans to add Warner Bros.’ “deep film and TV libraries”, as well as its HBO and HBO Max shows, to its own streaming service, which will mean the arrival of series such as Friends, The Big Bang Theory and House of the Dragon alongside countless movies, from Citizen Kane to this year’s Superman. One report last week suggested that Netflix acquiring these properties would supercharge the streamer’s ambitions around generative AI, as it would gain a library of content to train future AI models — and allow subscribers to use to generate their own creations.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
