Overview
- Paramount Skydance launched a $108.4 billion all-cash tender at $30 per share for all of WBD and sent a letter directly to investors detailing what it called air‑tight financing.
- Financing for the bid includes over $41 billion in equity and $54 billion in committed debt, backstopped by the Ellison family and RedBird, with partners including Bank of America, Citibank, Apollo, Affinity Partners and Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds.
- WBD said it will review Paramount’s offer but has not changed its recommendation supporting Netflix’s signed agreement for the studio, HBO and streaming assets.
- Netflix’s deal values those assets at $72 billion equity (about $82.7 billion enterprise value) and would close only after WBD separates its cable networks into Discovery Global, a spin‑off now expected in Q3 2026.
- Analysts broadly describe Paramount’s proposal as cleaner and more likely to clear, regulators at DOJ and the FTC are expected to scrutinize either path, labor groups warn of job and theatrical risks, and President Trump has said CNN should be sold as part of any deal.