Paramount Seeks to Overthrow Netflix's Bid for Warner Bros Discovery

Tue Dec 09 2025 10:52:04 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

In a dramatic twist in the media landscape, Paramount Skydance has upped the stakes with a renewed offer to acquire Warner Bros Discovery, asserting its position against Netflix's aggressive bid.

Paramount has made a direct offer to Warner Bros shareholders, proposing $30 per share to acquire the entire company in a bid to outmatch Netflix’s earlier valuation. While Paramount argues for the merits of their offer, Warner Bros is still inclined towards Netflix's proposal, leading to anticipated scrutiny from competition regulators in the U.S. and Europe regarding dominance in the streaming market.

Paramount Skydance has made another offer to buy Warner Bros Discovery as it seeks to trump a rival plan from Netflix to buy the company's studio and streaming networks.

Paramount, which is backed by the billionaire Ellison family, said it was making a direct offer to shareholders of $30 (£22.50) per share to scoop up the whole of Warner Bros, including its traditional television networks.

It said its proposal was a superior alternative to Netflix's, delivering more cash upfront to shareholders and greater prospect of approval by regulators.

President Donald Trump has said that there could be a problem with Netflix's purchase, pointing to competition concerns given the size of the companies.

Paramount is a smaller player than Netflix that is known for brands such as CBS News, Nickelodeon and Mission Impossible.

It started submitting offers a few months ago, eventually prompting Warner Bros, owner of HBO and classics from Looney Tunes to Harry Potter, to formally open a bidding process.

Wall Street analysts have long said they believe that a Paramount-Warner Bros combination makes sense, because it would give the company the scale to compete against rivals such as Netflix and Disney.

But Warner Bros declared Netflix the winner of the auction on Friday, announcing a deal that valued its studio and streaming networks, including HBO, at about $83bn (£62.3bn), including its debt.

It said the sale would proceed after a planned spin-off of other parts of Warner Brothers' business, including CNN, into an independent company.

Paramount's offer values the entire company at $108.4bn, which it said was a better deal. Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is among the financial partners Paramount is working with as part of the deal, according to paperwork submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Netflix executives on Monday expressed confidence in their plans, dismissing Paramount's attempt as entirely expected.

Warner Bros said it would review the offer but was not currently changing its recommendation. It said it would respond within 10 business days.

Either takeover is expected to face scrutiny from competition regulators in the US and Europe.

Analysts said Netflix's plan would likely raise concerns about dominance in streaming, while Paramount's proposal would prompt a review of the impact on advertisers and local television distributors, given the power of the combined company over sports and children's networks.

Shares in Warner Bros rose more than 4% while Paramount shares jumped 9%. Meanwhile, shares in Netflix dropped more than 3%.