Warner Bros. Discovery will likely review a new offering from Paramount
The leaders of Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Skydance have spent a busy week in negotiations, and now WBD’s board will likely tell shareholders before the market opens on Tuesday that it is considering the offer, while still recommending the Netflix transaction that will be voted on on March 20.
Representatives for WBD and Paramount Skydance declined to comment late Monday. The financial terms of the new offer were not immediately clear.
Monday capped a busy seven-day period in which the WBD board sought Netflix’s blessing to enter into discussions with Paramount to “seek clarity” on its “best and final offer.” WBD asked Paramount Skydance “to clarify your proposal, which we understand will include a WBD per share price in excess of $31” in a letter from Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav and Chairman Samuel Di Piazza Jr. to the board of directors of Paramount.
If WBD formally considers Paramount Skydance’s bid, the next move in this chess game will come from Netflix: The streamer has four days to match Paramount’s new bid or it could drop out of the bidding process. A source close to the situation noted that WBD is legally obligated to recommend the signed deal with Netflix, worth nearly $83 billion. Paramount has made a $108 billion bid for the entirety of WBD, including its cable channels. Netflix buys Warner Bros. and HBO Max.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, in a February 20 interview with Varietydeclined to say how the streamer would respond to a higher offer from Paramount. But he did say that Netflix has a “rich history” of “being willing to walk away and make someone else pay too much for things.”
Under Netflix’s agreement with WBD, the streamer would acquire Warner Bros. studios and streaming businesses. buy for $27.75 per share (in cash, a change Netflix made last month from its previous cash-and-stock offering). WBD shareholders would retain shares in Discovery Global, the company’s proposed spinoff entity that houses CNN, TBS and other linear networks, as well as Discovery+.
Ellison first approached WBD CEO Zaslav in September 2025, initially offering $19 per share for Warner Bros. Discovery. That came just weeks after Ellison’s Skydance Media completed its acquisition of Paramount Global. Paramount’s interest in WBD led the board to initiate a formal M&A review process – and the board chose Netflix as the winning bidder. WBD’s board has previously rejected Paramount’s takeover offer nine times.
Paramount’s takeover bid is backed by Larry Ellison (David’s tech billionaire father) and RedBird Capital Partners. The company has secured debt financing from Bank of America, Citigroup and Apollo Global Management. Paramount’s offer also includes capital from the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
