netflix" rel="sponsored" class="affiliate-link">Paramount makes $25 per share offer with cash from the Saudis, Qatar, Abu Dhabi; Netflix and Comcast still in play
Warner Bros. Discovery received second bids from Paramount, Comcast and Netflix on Monday as the potential buyers compete for the studio which owns TBS, TNT, HBO Max and hosts All-Elite Wrestling.
Paramount continued to bid for both the studio and streaming division and the cable division, which are expected to spin into separate companies early in 2026. Netflix and Comcast have bid only for the studios and streaming.
According to reports from several reporters at Bloomberg, Paramount’s second bid was all-cash and included funding from three Middle Eastern countries – Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
Variety reported the three countries involved in Paramount’s all-cash bid on Nov. 16. Paramount, in a statement to the trade publication, said the report was “categorically inaccurate.”
Charles Gasparino of the New York Post reported private equity fund Apollo Group was also part of Paramount’s “improved” second competitive bid of $25 per share.
Netflix and Comcast also made second bids, putting the numbers together during the Thanksgiving weekend.
Netflix’s second offer was mostly cash, according to Lucas Shaw of Bloomberg. The company would take a loan to complete its purchase. Bloomberg had no report of what consisted of Comcast’s offer.
Reports from earlier this year said WBD CEO David Zaslav expected at least $70 billion in a potential purchase. Paramount had made at least three all-cash attempts to buy WBD before the company opened to a bidding process last month. One attempt included Zaslav staying as co-chair.
Ellison has been heavily criticized since taking over Paramount. The company paid $16 million to the Trump administration in a settlement and added Bari Weiss, a center-right columnist, as the head of CBS News. Ellison’s father Larry, owner of Oracle, is a friend of President Trump, which is one reason analysts believe Paramount is the favorite in the competition because of a friendlier regulatory road. Sources have told SEScoops that Comcast would be the likely winner in a bid.
Ellison came under fire for saying he would merge the HBO Max streaming app under Paramount Plus. Paramount also lost Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan, but the famed screenwriter will helm a Paramount project based on the Call of Duty video game.
Some analysts have criticized Ellison for the debt the company has compiled and his plan to make Paramount Plus into a competitor on the level of Netflix and Amazon Prime. Ellison paid $8 billion for Paramount then made a deal with TKO for all rights to Ultimate Fighting Championship for seven years for $7.7 billion.
Several Hollywood unions have opposed a Warner Bros. merger, especially when companies continue to shed jobs. Paramount has laid off 14,000 workers this year.
Both Ellisons were at a White House dinner two weeks ago which hosted Saudi Arabian Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which also included other tech billionaires Tim Cook of Apple and Michael Dell. U.S. companies continue to court money from Saudi Arabia despite the U.S. intelligence reports that Salman had knowledge of the killing of American resident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
Director James Cameron heavily criticized Netflix’s interest in WBD due to statements from company president Ted Sarandos that it couldn’t make “cinema work” in a short-lived attempt at putting its films in theaters.
According to Deadline, the bids are binding and WBD could split-off to negotiate with one suitor over the other two.
A WBD merger with another major media company would greatly affect the pro wrestling television landscape, which is already in tumult due to the fall-off of cable TV and changes in ratings from Nielsen.
Pro wrestling viewership has consistently rated lower since Nielsen switched to its Big Panel Plus system last fall. Streaming numbers will be added in January 2026. WWE PLE viewership has been down on its first shows on the new ESPN Unlimited app, which was just released at the beginning of football season and is still gaining a subscriber base.
World Wrestling Entertainment is coming to the end of its first year of a five-year deal with Netflix for Raw. UFC will debut this month on Paramount Plus, while WWE Smackdown airs on USA Network and NXT on CW. ESPN is airing WWE PPVs while Peacock has a deal for quarterly Saturday Night’s Main Event shows. AEW is at the end of the first year of its three-year deal with WBD to air on TNT, TBS and HBO Max. WBD has an option for a fourth year.
If a sale occurs, the buyer would be WBD’s fourth owner in the last decade.