Just days after Netflix appeared to secure a deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount has thrown a wrench into those plans with a hostile takeover attempt.
Paramount, now led by David Ellison following the Skydance merger, announced Monday it has launched an all-cash tender offer of $30 per share for WBD — totaling $108.4 billion in enterprise value. The offer represents a 139% premium over WBD’s stock price before acquisition talks began.
Not So Fast, Netflix
The move directly challenges Netflix’s announced acquisition, which valued WBD at $82.7 billion through a mix of cash and stock.
“WBD shareholders deserve an opportunity to consider our superior all-cash offer for their shares in the entire company,” Ellison stated in the press release. “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.”
Paramount’s offer provides $18 billion more in cash than the Netflix deal and expires January 8, 2026.
As previously reported, Netflix faced significant regulatory hurdles to close its acquisition. Paramount is now positioning its bid as the faster path to completion, arguing that Netflix’s deal would create an anticompetitive streaming monopoly with 43% of global SVOD subscribers.
Warner Bros. Discovery owns TNT and TBS, the broadcast homes of AEW programming. The outcome of this bidding war will determine AEW’s future television partnership.