Overview
- Paramount submitted a $108 billion proposal directly to Warner Bros. Discovery investors after Netflix and Warner announced an acquisition agreement of roughly $82.7–83 billion last week.
- Paramount’s financing is reported to include private funds linked to the Ellison family, Gulf sovereign wealth funds, and Jared Kushner’s Affinity investment firm.
- President Trump said he would be involved in the decision and criticized Netflix’s market share, intensifying political scrutiny and concerns over potential control of CNN.
- Under Netflix’s plan, Warner Bros. studio operations and HBO Max would move to Netflix while linear TV assets, including CNN, would be separated into a new company called Discovery Global.
- The deals require shareholder approval and regulatory clearance that could take up to 12–18 months, while recent trading showed Warner and Paramount shares rising as Netflix slipped.