Overview
- The offer values Warner Bros. Discovery at about $108.4 billion and covers studios, streaming and cable networks such as CNN, unlike Netflix’s earlier $83 billion deal that excludes cable channels.
- Paramount says the bid is fully backed by the Ellison family and RedBird Capital with roughly $54 billion of debt commitments from Bank of America, Citi and Apollo.
- Reporting ties additional financing to sovereign funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi and to Affinity Partners, with Paramount indicating sovereign investors agreed to forgo governance rights.
- Paramount has taken the proposal directly to investors after multiple private approaches, arguing its cash terms are worth $18 billion more and offer a faster, more certain close than Netflix’s cash-and-stock structure.
- Regulatory and political scrutiny is mounting after President Trump raised antitrust concerns about the Netflix deal, and the Netflix–WBD pact carries breakup fees of $5.8 billion if Netflix exits and $2.8 billion if WBD accepts a superior offer.