The race for Warner Bros. Discovery intensified as Paramount Global, led by CEO David Ellison, made an unsolicited, all-cash offer of $108 billion to buy the company that owns HBO, Warner Bros. Studios and CNN. Paramount’s bid tops the roughly $83 billion agreement Netflix announced last week — though Netflix’s deal would cover only Warner’s studios and streaming business, with CNN and other cable networks spun off if that transaction closes.
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and his son David — founder of Skydance Media — took control of Paramount this summer. Paramount’s holdings include CBS, Paramount Pictures and Paramount+, and a combined Paramount–Warner entity would create a much larger entertainment conglomerate aimed at competing with Netflix, Amazon, Apple and Disney.
The Ellisons began making unsolicited offers earlier this year, prompting Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav to explore a sale. Paramount says Warner “never engaged meaningfully” with six proposals it submitted, an accusation made by Paramount executives on a conference call with investors and reporters. Warner did not comment when asked.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos told investors he expected a counterbid from Paramount but sounded untroubled, saying his company remained confident it would complete its agreement with Warner’s studios and streaming operations.
Paramount argued it had advantages over Netflix’s proposal because it offered an all-cash premium for the entire company rather than a carve-out, and because the Ellisons have cultivated political ties that could be relevant for regulatory approval. Larry Ellison is a donor and informal adviser to former President Trump. Paramount has also made personnel changes at CBS News under the new owners — hiring a conservative ex–think-tank official as ombudsman and naming Bari Weiss editor in chief of the news division — moves the company said would address perceptions of bias. Paramount’s prior leadership paid $16 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Trump against CBS News.
Regulatory approval is far from assured. Netflix’s announcement drew bipartisan criticism from some U.S. senators, and Trump has said the deal’s market effects would be reviewed by economists and that he would be involved in the decision. After Paramount announced its hostile bid, Trump publicly attacked CBS News over a 60 Minutes interview with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and criticized the Ellisons’ stewardship, saying the new ownership “would allow a show like this to air” and calling the network “no better than the old ownership.”
Editor’s note: Warner Bros. Discovery is among NPR’s financial supporters.