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Hostile Bid
12/9/2025
Hostile Bid on Warner Bros. Discovery
Paramount Skydance has stunned Hollywood with a hostile $108 billion cash bid for Warner Bros. Discovery.
Unlike Netflix’s $72 billion board-approved agreement announced earlier, Paramount is bypassing WBD’s board and appealing directly to shareholders. That includes taking on WBD’s struggling cable networks like CNN. Netflix’s deal, which remains the preferred choice by WBD’s board, focuses on streaming as well as TV and film studios.
The stakes are enormous: whoever wins gains control of iconic franchises from DC superheroes to HBO prestige dramas and a huge boost to their streaming operations.
The Mechanics of a Hostile Bid
A hostile takeover is corporate drama at its sharpest. Instead of negotiating with management, the bidder goes straight to shareholders, offering cash or stock at a premium.
If enough investors tender their shares, control shifts without board approval. Sometimes bidders also launch proxy fights, where they seek to persuade shareholders to vote in new directors who will support the deal.
To help its bid, Paramount Skydance has launched a Stronger Hollywood website, trying to make its pitch to shareholders.
Who’s Backing Paramount’s Play
Paramount Skydance’s bid is powered by a coalition capable of providing the cash. With a market value of about $16 billion and only $3.3 billion in cash on hand last quarter, Paramount cannot finance a $108 billion deal on its own.
The company rests on the financial muscle of the Ellison family, who earlier this year teamed with RedBird Capital to fund the Paramount‑Skydance merger. RedBird is once again involved with the Ellisons to provide equity funding.
Much of Paramount’s bid ($54 billion) will be financed by debt.
Wider Coalition Behind the Bid
The bid also leans on financing from sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi, as well as Chinese tech giant Tencent.
Originally, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners was also going to provide equity to the deal, but Affinity has since dropped out of the arrangement.
Kushner’s involvement could have complicated things, as President Trump has signaled that he will personally be involved in the review of the Warner deal.
How the Ellisons Control Paramount Skydance
Paramount Skydance is publicly listed, but CEO and chairman David Ellison — son of Oracle founder and centibillionaire Larry Ellison — holds the power. He controls the company through Class A super‑voting shares, which give him full command over strategy and board direction, including mergers and acquisitions.
In this exceedingly rare corporate structure, public investors can only take part in the company’s economic value: Class B shares carry zero voting rights. This gives David Ellison full strategic control to pursue bold acquisitions.
Paramount’s bid offers a whopping 139% premium to the WBD’s undisturbed stock price.
The Fate of Warner Bros. Discovery
Whether Paramount or Netflix wins the bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, the deal faces intense regulatory and political scrutiny both in the US and abroad.
Paramount says Netflix would sweep 43% of the global streaming market with the deal, risking a near-monopoly. Netflix argues the real market to compare to is the wider entertainment space, and warns of huge job cuts if Paramount’s bid wins.
WBD is also on the hook for a $2.8 billion breakup fee if it backs out of the deal with Netflix.
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