Paramount Skydance is poised to emerge as the winner in a monthslong bidding war to buy Warner Bros. Discovery after streaming giant Netflix declined to raise its takeover offer on Thursday.
Warner Bros.’ board said Paramount’s offer of $31 a share was superior to the $27.75-per-share deal previously agreed with Netflix. Netflix said Paramount Skydance’s revised bid made the deal “no longer financially attractive.”
“The transaction we negotiated would have created shareholder value with a clear path to regulatory approval,” Netflix said. “However, we’ve always been disciplined, and at the price required to match Paramount Skydance’s latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive, so we are declining to match the Paramount Skydance bid.”
In December, Netflix reached a binding agreement with Warner covering its studio and streaming operations. Netflix backing away from a counteroffer means Warner’s board is now free to terminate that agreement and proceed with Paramount.
“Once our board votes to adopt the Paramount merger agreement, it will create tremendous value for our shareholders,” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said. “We are excited about the potential of a combined Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros Discovery and can’t wait to get started working together telling the stories that move the world.” There was no immediate statement from Paramount.
Critics have sounded the alarm over the potential takeover, calling the contest one of the biggest media bidding wars in a generation. Unlike Netflix, which sought to buy only Warner’s studio and streaming business, Paramount wants the entire company, including television networks like CNN.
A Paramount-Warner merger would bring together two major Hollywood studios and two streaming platforms, HBO Max and Paramount+. It would also place CNN and CBS News under one ownership umbrella. After the merger of Skydance and Paramount last year, CBS saw editorial shifts, including Free Press founder Bari Weiss becoming editor-in-chief.
Critics warn a takeover could further consolidate industry power, lead to job cuts, reduce diversity in filmmaking and hurt consumers already facing rising streaming costs. Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison and his father Larry Ellison have ties to US President Donald Trump, a point cited by some concerned observers. US lawmakers and entertainment trade groups have raised related concerns about the deal’s broader implications.
Edited by: Wesley Dockery