Paramount Launches $108B Hostile Bid for Warner Bros. Discovery
The all-cash offer challenges a prior deal with Netflix and ignites a high-stakes battle for control of the media giant's film studios, HBO, and cable networks.
Paramount has launched an unsolicited $108.4 billion all-cash tender offer for Warner Bros. Discovery, a bold move that seeks to upend a previously accepted deal with Netflix and consolidate two of Hollywood's most storied companies.
The hostile bid, announced Monday, offers $30 per share for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), aiming to acquire the entire company, including its film and television studios, HBO, the Max streaming service, and its portfolio of linear cable networks like CNN and TBS. The move directly challenges an $82.7 billion agreement WBD's board struck with Netflix to sell its studio and streaming assets while spinning off its legacy cable channels into a separate entity.
Paramount’s aggressive play escalates the consolidation endgame in the media industry, where legacy players are grappling with declining cable television revenue and the costly, competitive landscape of streaming. Should it succeed, the acquisition would combine Warner Bros.' DC Comics, Harry Potter, and HBO's prestige television with Paramount's own franchises, including 'Top Gun,' 'Mission: Impossible,' and Star Trek, creating a content library of formidable scale.
In a statement, Paramount, which recently merged with Skydance Media, argued its proposal is "decidedly superior" for WBD shareholders. The company emphasized that its all-cash offer provides more immediate value and certainty than the complex Netflix transaction. "Our offer delivers approximately $18 billion more in cash to Warner Bros. Discovery stockholders for their shares and, unlike the Netflix deal, provides a clearer and more expeditious path to completion with fewer regulatory hurdles," Paramount stated in a press release.
Warner Bros. Discovery shares surged in after-hours trading on the news, climbing toward the $27 mark. The company's market capitalization stood at approximately $64.6 billion before the offer, making Paramount's bid a significant premium for investors who have weathered a volatile period since the WarnerMedia and Discovery merger.
The bid is the culmination of a months-long pursuit. Sources familiar with the matter suggest Paramount made multiple private approaches to WBD's board over the past 12 weeks but failed to gain traction, leading to the decision to take the offer directly to shareholders. This hostile approach forces WBD’s board, led by CEO David Zaslav, into a difficult position.
In response, WBD's board acknowledged receipt of the unsolicited proposal and stated it would "carefully review the offer" to determine the course of action it believes is in the best interests of the company and its shareholders. However, it reaffirmed its current recommendation for the existing Netflix agreement and advised shareholders to take no action at this time.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, speaking at an investor conference, called Paramount's move "entirely expected" and expressed confidence that its deal with WBD would ultimately be completed.
The battle places two different strategic visions for media's future in stark relief. The Netflix deal would have doubled down on streaming content, separating the high-growth, high-spend digital assets from the cash-generating but declining linear TV business. Paramount’s strategy, in contrast, is one of total consolidation, keeping the entire portfolio of assets together to maximize scale and leverage across both streaming and traditional distribution.
Paramount's bid is backed by a powerful consortium, including the Ellison family via Skydance, RedBird Capital, and financial partners such as Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners. This backing could carry political weight, particularly as any mega-merger in the media space is certain to attract intense antitrust scrutiny from Washington. Paramount has already argued that its combination with WBD would be pro-competitive, creating a stronger rival to giants like Netflix and Disney.
Both Paramount and WBD carry significant debt loads, a major concern for investors. WBD's long-term debt is a focal point of its current strategy, and adding Paramount's liabilities would create a heavily leveraged entity. However, proponents of the deal would point to massive potential cost synergies from combining studio operations, marketing departments, and the back-end technology of their respective streaming services, Max and Paramount+.