Overview
- Paramount Skydance took its offer directly to Warner Bros. Discovery investors with an all‑cash $30‑per‑share tender valuing the company at about $108.4 billion and covering the entire business, including CNN, TNT and Discovery.
- The bid challenges Netflix’s signed agreement to buy Warner’s studios and HBO Max in a cash‑and‑stock deal valued at $27.75 per share, or roughly $82.7 billion including debt, which carries a $5.8 billion breakup fee.
- Paramount says its proposal offers more certain value and a faster path to closing, noting it submitted six prior bids that it claims were not meaningfully engaged by Warner Bros. Discovery’s board.
- Financing for the tender includes equity backed by the Ellison family and RedBird Capital with about $54 billion in committed debt from Bank of America, Citi and Apollo, and the offer is set to expire on Jan. 8 unless extended.
- Political and regulatory pressure escalated as President Trump said the Netflix deal "could be a problem" and Senator Elizabeth Warren called the Paramount‑Skydance approach a "five‑alarm antitrust fire," urging rigorous DOJ and CFIUS review.