Paramount is doing exactly what was suspected: trying to blow up the freshly announced Netflix–Warner Bros. deal with a full-on hostile takeover bid.
Just days after Warner Bros. Discovery agreed to a $72 billion sale to Netflix, Paramount has bypassed the board entirely and gone straight to shareholders with an offer valued at $108.4 billion — roughly $30 per share.
In its pitch, Paramount isn’t being subtle. The company argues that the “Netflix transaction provides Warner Bros. shareholders with inferior and uncertain value,” framing its own offer as both richer and far more straightforward. Their bid doesn’t carve up the company or hedge its future — it simply buys EVERYTHING.
And that’s the point, Paramount wants the whole Warner Bros. empire, including the TV assets Netflix was seeking. By blasting out an offer nearly $26 billion higher than Netflix’s $82.7 billion bid, Paramount is betting shareholders will choose guaranteed cash. The battle for Warner Bros. isn’t over; it’s just getting started.