Overview
- Warner Bros. Discovery’s board again backed Netflix’s roughly $82.7 billion cash-and-stock purchase of its studio and streaming assets, which would be paired with a spin-off of the Discovery-branded linear TV networks into a separate company.
- Paramount Skydance is keeping its $30-per-share all-cash hostile tender for all of WBD on the table after repeated rejections and has threatened litigation, while pressing lawmakers with a filing that labels the Netflix–WBD deal “presumptively unlawful.”
- WBD disclosed that the U.S. Justice Department will review both the Netflix agreement and Paramount’s competing proposal, with additional scrutiny expected from European and state authorities.
- Netflix shares have slid sharply during the takeover fight, falling 12.9% in December and sitting roughly a third below their late-June peak as investors weigh cost, financing and regulatory risks.
- Key near-term markers include Netflix’s Jan. 20 earnings release and Paramount’s tender window currently set through Jan. 21, with a lengthy, multijurisdictional review likely to extend well into 2026.