The battle for Hollywood is officially a corporate battle. Just days after Netflix appeared to win the bidding war for major parts of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), rival bidder Paramount Skydance has escalated the fight, launching a bold hostile takeover bid for the entire company.
Led by CEO David Ellison, Paramount Skydance is now going over the WBD Board of Directors’ heads and taking a massive, all-cash offer directly to WBD shareholders. This dramatic move throws the entire future of two media giants and the streaming world into immediate uncertainty.
The Heart of the Battle: The Bidding terms
The core of the dispute lies in what is being bought and how much it’s worth.
The Netflix Deal (Currently Board-Approved)
What it Buys: Only WBD’s Studio and Streaming assets, including the Warner Bros. film studio, HBO, and HBO Max.
What is Left Out: WBD’s Global Networks (like CNN and TNT) would be spun off into a separate, new company.
Value: Roughly $27.75 per WBD share in a mix of cash and Netflix stock.
The Paramount Skydance Bid (Hostile Offer)
What it Buys: The Entire Warner Bros. Discovery Company, keeping the film studios, streaming services, and the Global Networks together.
Value: $30.00 per share in all cash.
Total Enterprise Value: An impressive $108.4 billion, including WBD’s current debt.
Paramount Skydance argues that its offer is superior and more certain for shareholders, delivering an estimated $18 billion more cash than the complicated Netflix proposal.
Why the Hostile Move? The Strategy Behind the Bid
When a company goes “hostile,” it means the existing management and board have rejected the offer, so the bidder must appeal directly to the owners the shareholders to force a sale.
Paramount Skydance is pushing three main arguments to convince WBD shareholders to reject the Netflix deal:
- More Cash, Less Risk: The $30.00 per share is a higher price, and the all-cash structure removes the risk and complexity of receiving volatile Netflix stock as part of the payment.
- Regulatory Advantage: Paramount argues that a Netflix-WBD deal which would merge two massive content libraries and streaming subscriber bases would face intense and lengthy antitrust scrutiny from regulators. A Paramount-WBD merger, being smaller, might have a “quicker path to completion.”
- Keeping the Company Together: Paramount believes that keeping all of WBD’s assets together (studios, streaming, and cable networks) provides a stronger, more stable business, arguing the separate “Discovery Global” company created by the Netflix deal would be saddled with uncertainty.
What Happens Next?
The hostile bid signals that this fight is far from over. Paramount Skydance has formally launched a tender offer that is set to expire in January 2026.