Paramount is launching a hostile bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery after it lost to Netflix in a high-stakes bidding war, the company announced Monday, setting the stage for a corporate drama worthy of "Succession."
Paramount said it would offer $30 per share for the media conglomerate, which owns the Warner Bros. film studio, the cable channel HBO, the streaming service HBO Max and a portfolio of cable brands.
In a federal securities filing, Paramount said the hostile bid will be backed in part by funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, as well as Affinity Partners, an investment firm founded by Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law.
Netflix agreed last week to buy a large part of Warner Bros. Discovery's studio and streaming assets for $27.75 per share. Netflix's takeover would not include the Warner-owned cable channels, which include CNN and TNT.
The offer lays the groundwork for what could become a public and contentious battle for Warner Bros., a process that had already included appeals to Trump, who said he intends to play a role in any merger.
Warner Bros. Discovery's board of directors has already approved its deal with Netflix, but Paramount's move to go directly to shareholders — a maneuver known in the business world as a hostile bid — will push what had been private negotiations into the public realm.
Paramount's bid for Warner Bros. Discovery is the latest head-spinning twist in a saga that has riveted Hollywood, where film and television executives are growing increasingly uneasy about studio consolidation, contracting content spending and the rise of generative artificial intelligence.
In a news release, Paramount said its offer to Warner Bros. shareholders "provides a superior alternative to the Netflix transaction," warning that a deal with the streaming giant risks entangling the studio in a complex regulatory process.
"WBD shareholders deserve an opportunity to consider our superior all-cash offer for their shares in the entire company," Paramount CEO David Ellison said in a statement.
"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," he added.
On Monday afternoon, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos projected confidence about his deal to buy Warner Bros.
"Today's move was entirely expected," he said at UBS' Global Media Conference, referring to Paramount's hostile bid. "We have a deal done, and we are incredibly happy with the deal. We think it’s great for our shareholders, great for consumers. We think it’s a great way to create and protect jobs in the entertainment industry."
Sarandos said he was "super confident" that the deal would get over the finish line. He also addressed possible antitrust concerns, saying that "in this transaction we pick up three businesses, basically, that we're not currently in."
Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters described the deal as pro-consumer and pro-creator: "We're going to increase our content spend and deliver more; that's great for them."
In a statement, Warner Bros. Discovery's board said it received Paramount's offer and "will carefully review and consider" it.
The company says it will inform shareholders of its decision on Paramount's bid within 10 business days. For now, it says, it remains committed to the Netflix deal.
Ellison acquired Paramount this year in an $8 billion deal that housed the studio's assets under his company Skydance. He is the son of Larry Ellison, a billionaire technology magnate with close ties to Trump.
Unlike Netflix's bid, Paramount's offer would be all cash, backstopped by the Ellison family's fortune. The company also said it has a $54 billion funding commitment from Bank of America, Citi and the private equity firm Apollo Global. The total value of the deal would be more than $108 billion.
"We're really here to finish what we started," Ellison told CNBC shortly after he announced the bid.
"When you combine the No. 1 streamer with the No. 3 streamer, that creates a company that has unprecedented market power, north of 400 million subscribers," Ellison said. "The next largest competitor is Disney, with just under 200 million. That's bad for Hollywood."
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"We believe we have the superior offer. We're taking that directly to shareholders, and we think that's what they're going to vote for," Ellison said.
Major corporate acquisitions are already complicated affairs, and when companies are willing to launch hostile bids and outbid one another, they can turn combative and litigious. But the competition for Warner Bros. Discovery has been further complicated by Trump's political involvement.
While such acquisitions are always subject to government regulatory approval, it is exceedingly rare for a president to take a public role in a private transaction.
On Sunday, Trump said Netflix buying Warner Bros. could be an antitrust "problem." He added that he will "be involved" in the approval process for that deal.
Trump also said that Sarandos had recently visited him in the Oval Office to discuss the deal but that he made no promises.
On Monday afternoon, Sarandos said Trump "cares deeply about American industry, and he loves the entertainment industry."
"What the president has been interested in in this deal has been to what extent does it protect and create jobs in America," Sarandos said.
Sarandos said that if Paramount's bid prevails, the company would extract billions of dollars of synergies by cutting jobs. "We're not cutting jobs; we're making jobs," he said.
Likewise, when he was asked about Trump on CNBC, Ellison said he is "incredibly grateful for the relations that I have with the president." He added that he believes Trump "believes in competition."
"We've had great conversations with the president about this," Ellison also said, "but I don't want to speak for him in any way, shape or form."
In a Truth Social post published just minutes after Paramount announced its hostile bid, Trump blasted the company over Sunday's installment of "60 Minutes," which featured an interview with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., a firebrand conservative who has become a fierce critic of his.
"My real problem with the show, however, wasn’t the low IQ traitor, it was that the new ownership of 60 Minutes, Paramount, would allow a show like this to air," Trump wrote. "THEY ARE NO BETTER THAN THE OLD OWNERSHIP, who just paid me millions of Dollars for FAKE REPORTING about your favorite President, ME! Since they bought it, 60 Minutes has actually gotten WORSE!"
Trump was referring to the $16 million Paramount paid to settle his lawsuit over an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris that aired in the lead-up to the 2024 election. Trump accused CBS of having deceptively edited the segment — a claim the network denied.
CBS News did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump's post.
Warner Bros. Discovery hung up a “for sale” sign this year and announced plans to split into two publicly traded entities — one for streaming and studio assets, the other for cable networks. The offers from media giants then came rolling in.
In the event Netflix’s bid is approved, Warner-owned cable brands like CNN, TBS and TNT would be housed under a separate public company.
Comcast, the corporation that owns NBC News, similarly plans to spin off cable brands such as MS Now (formerly MSNBC) and CNBC into a separate public company.
Warner Bros. Discovery shares jumped 4.4%, while Netflix shares fell 3.4% and Paramount advanced 9%.
