Paramount Skydance launches hostile bid for WBD after Netflix wins bidding war

Paramount Skydance launches hostile bid for WBD after Netflix wins bidding war

Published Mon, Dec 8 2025

9:03 AM EST

Key Points

• David Ellison-run Paramount Skydance is launching a hostile bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery.
• Paramount will go straight to WBD shareholders with an all-cash, $30-per-share offer.
• Netflix won a bidding war for the Warner Bros. film studio and HBO Max streaming service, but it doesn't plan to buy WBD's TV networks.
• Paramount has repeatedly argued keeping Warner Bros. Discovery whole was in the best interest of its shareholders.

In this article

• PSKY
• WBD

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CEO of Paramount Skydance David Ellison poses on the red carpet for the 2025 Kennedy Center Honors at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., U.S., December 7, 2025.

Jeenah Moon | Reuters

Paramount Skydance is launching a hostile bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery after it lost out to Netflix in a months-long bidding war for the legacy assets, company officials told CNBC.

Paramount will go straight to WBD shareholders with an all-cash, $30-per-share offer. That's the same bid WBD rejected last week, according to people familiar with the bid who asked not to be named because the details were private.

On Friday, Netflix announced a deal to acquire WBD's studio and streaming assets for $72 billion. David Ellison-run Paramount had been bidding for the entirety of Warner Bros. Discovery, including those assets and the company's TV networks like CNN and TNT Sports.

Comcast also bid for the streaming and studio businesses, CNBC previously reported.

Paramount has repeatedly argued to the WBD board of directors that keeping Warner Bros. Discovery whole was in the best interest of its shareholders.

Paramount executives also plan to argue their deal will have a much shorter regulatory approval process given the company's smaller size and friendly relationship with the Trump administration, according to people familiar with the matter.

Netflix's proposed acquisition has already raised antitrust questions, in particular for combining two of the most dominant streaming platforms. CNBC reported Friday that the Trump administration was viewing the deal with "heavy skepticism," and President Donald Trump said Sunday the market share considerations could pose a "problem."

Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal, which owns CNBC. Versant would become the new parent company of CNBC upon Comcast’s planned spinoff of Versant.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

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