Paramount Skydance has launched a hostile $108.4 billion bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), just days after Warner reached a deal to be purchased by Netflix for $82.7 billion.
The new bid, announced Monday, bypasses WBD’s board and goes directly to shareholders with an all-cash offer of $30 per share. Paramount emphasized that its bid delivers $18 billion more in cash than Netflix’s competing offer, which included $23.25 in cash and $4.50 in Netflix shares, totaling $27.75 per share.
Unlike Netflix, which is seeking only WBD’s Hollywood studios and streaming operations, Paramount wants to acquire the entire company.
CNBC reported that these exact terms were presented to the WBD board last week and were rejected.
Paramount CEO David Ellison criticized WBD leadership in a statement, saying:
“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.”
To support the hostile move, Paramount secured backing from the Ellison family, RedBird Capital, and $54 billion in debt commitments from Bank of America, Citi, and Apollo.
Netflix had appeared to win the months-long bidding battle on Friday after outmaneuvering both Paramount and Comcast. But Paramount’s aggressive counter-move now threatens to extend the corporate showdown for one of Hollywood’s most historic studios.
Netflix’s proposed acquisition has already drawn scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators, with critics warning that merging two major streaming giants could raise serious antitrust concerns. President Donald Trump also said the deal “could be a problem” due to the combined market share.
Related: Netflix CEO Meets Trump Over Warner Bros. Deal
A Paramount-WBD merger would likely face a similar regulatory crackdown.
Under the terms of Netflix’s agreement, Netflix must pay WBD $5.8 billion if the deal fails, while WBD would owe Netflix $2.8 billion if it backs out.
Netflix has not yet commented on Paramount’s hostile offer.
