Paramount Offers $108 Billion to Tempt Warner Bros. Shareholders Away from Netflix Deal

Hollywood’s ongoing drama over the fate of Warner Bros. Discovery shows no signs of cooling down, and Paramount has just fanned the flames with an all-cash offer at $30 per share, equating to an enterprise value of $108.4 billion. This offer was made directly to WBD shareholders and its Board of Directors, since the company’s leadership never engaged with the six previous proposals brought forward by Paramount over the last 12 weeks. Paramount’s proposed purchase includes the company’s Global Networks division, which was excluded from Netflix’s $82.7 billion offer. Paramount says that its offer is the “clearly superior alternative,” and is giving Warner Bros shareholders until January 8, 2026 to accept the deal.

Paramount describes its offer as “strategically and financially compelling,” whereas Netflix’s competing bid “offers inferior and uncertain value and exposes WBD shareholders to a protracted multi-jurisdictional regulatory clearance process with an uncertain outcome, along with a complex and volatile mix of equity and cash,” according to a statement from Paramount. One detail that shareholders certainly won’t overlook is the extra $18 billion in cash that Paramount is sliding across the table. In a statement released by the company on December 8th, Paramount said that a recommendation from WBD’s Board of Directors to accept Netflix’s offer over Paramount’s 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.” Warner’s Global Networks division includes major cable channels like CNN, TNT, HGTV, TLC, and Discovery Channel, along with the Discovery+ streaming service.

Paramount’s Chairman and CEO is David Ellison, the son of Oracle Corporation co-founder Larry Ellison. (David Ellison took the reins in August of 2025, shortly after the Paramount Skydance Corporation was formed through the merger of Paramount Global, National Amusements, and Skydance Media.) “WBD shareholders deserve an opportunity to consider our superior all-cash offer for their shares in the entire company,” he said in the December 8th press release. “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.”

Paramount is “highly confident in achieving expeditious regulatory clearance for its proposed offer,” according to a statement from the company, saying that its bid “enhances competition and is pro-consumer, while creating a strong champion for creative talent and consumer choice.” Paramount says that the Netflix deal, on the other hand, is “predicated on the unrealistic assumption that its anticompetitive combination with WBD, which would entrench its monopoly with a 43% share of global Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) subscribers, could withstand multiple protracted regulatory challenges across the world.”

But there may be something to Paramount’s claim that its offer will face fewer regulatory hurdles than the Netflix deal — at least here in the USA. Paramount’s bid includes financing from Affinity Partners, the investment firm run by Jared Kushner and funded largely by the Saudi Arabian government. Kushner, lest we forget, is married to Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka. Paramount’s offer is also backstopped by the company’s “well-capitalized principal equity holders,” led by billionaire Larry Ellison, currently the world’s second-wealthiest person. Ellison has close ties to the Trump administration, according to a report from Reuters.

Paramount has already submitted a pre-merger notification filing under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 in connection with its offer for WBD, and “stands ready to secure all necessary regulatory approvals expeditiously,” according to the company. But many of the same lawmakers who warned against the Netflix deal have similar misgivings about the Paramount transaction. That includes Senator Elizabeth Warren, who said that “a Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros merger would be a five-alarm antitrust fire, and exactly what our anti-monopoly laws are written to prevent.” While Netflix’s proposed deal raised concerns about that company’s potential to dominate the streaming market, the Paramount deal brings its own anxieties about advertisers, television distributors, and both cable and network TV. While Netflix’s deal would not see the streaming giant absorb Warner Bros.’ Global Networks segment, the Paramount deal includes the whole kit and caboodle. The Ellisons would essentially own both CBS and CNN, and considering the family’s ties to Trump, such an arrangement might have far-reaching consequences for the news business.

Paramount Skydance’s new hostile bid is backed by a “who’s who” of Trump buddies, from Jared Kushner’s private equity firm, to the Ellison family, to money flowing from the Middle East — raising serious questions about influence-peddling, political favoritism, and national security risks. The Department of Justice and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) must review any Warner Bros. deal based on the law and facts, not who sucked up the most to Donald Trump.

— Senator Elizabeth Warren

While Netflix is considered public enemy #1 by many in the movie theater industry, Paramount says that its own takeover plan includes maintaining the current WBD theatrical slate, with plans for additional growth. “Paramount strongly believes in the value of releasing feature movies in theaters,” the company said in a statement, “and will continue to do so for the theatrical content of both Paramount and WBD studios.” Paramount CEO David Ellison doubled down on these promises during a press conference on December 8th. “Paramount is committed to growing the film and TV output of both businesses,” he said, “including a theatrical slate of 30+ theatrical releases per year. We’re going to satisfy the needs of the moviegoing public.” Paramount also promises to be a champion of Hollywood and the creatives who makes movie magic possible. The company has said that it would maintain both Paramount’s and Warner’s studios, with a focus on “attracting and retaining world-class creative talent.”

We believe the WBD Board of Directors is pursuing an inferior proposal (from Netflix), 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. … 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.

— David Ellison, Chairman and CEO of Paramount Skydance Corporation

Paramount is painting its deal as pro-competition in the streaming space, noting that a combined Paramount+ and HBO Max service would have the necessary prestige and depth of catalog to offer a meaningful competitor to powerhouses like Netflix, Disney, and Amazon. So far, however, the Warner Bros. Discovery board of directors is not modifying its recommendation to accept the Netflix proposal. Instead, the board said it would review Paramount’s offer, advising the company to “take no action at this time.” The board did say it would respond to Paramount’s proposal within 10 business days.

Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos seemed unperturbed when he spoke Monday at a conference in New York hosted by UBS, a Wall Street bank. “Today’s move was entirely expected,” he said. “We have a deal done, and we are incredibly happy with the deal. It’s great for shareholders, great for consumers. We think it’s a great way to create and protect jobs in the entertainment industry. We’re super confident we’re going to get it across the line. So we’re set.” Despite Sarandos’s display of confidence, it is entirely possible that Paramount’s latest proposal will throw a wrench into Netflix’s plans. In a December 8th interview with CNBC, Ellison came across equally optimistic. “We’re sitting on Wall Street, where cash is still king,” he said. “We are offering shareholders $17.6 billion more cash than the deal they currently have signed up with Netflix, and we believe when they see what it is currently in our offer, that that’s what they’ll vote for,” Ellison said.

To learn more about Paramount’s “superior” proposal, WBD shareholders are urged to visit www.StrongerHollywood.com, where Paramount makes the case for abandoning the Netflix deal in favor of its all-cash offer.