Paramount launches $108bn hostile bid for Warner Bros

Paramount Skydance has unveiled a hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) after losing out to Netflix in a prolonged bidding contest.

According to a report by CNBC, on Monday, Paramount said it is taking its $30-per-share all-cash offer directly to WBD shareholders, a proposal valued at $108.4 billion.

The publication said the bid is backed by equity commitments from the Ellison family, RedBird Capital, and $54 billion in debt financing from Bank of America, Citi and Apollo Global Management.

David Ellison, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Paramount Skydance, told CNBC’s Squawk on the Street that “we’re really here to finish what we started”.

“We put the company in play,” he added.

According to CNBC, Paramount began pursuing WBD in September and submitted three offers before the company launched a formal sale process that drew interest from other bidders.

Paramount had sought to buy all of WBD, including the studio assets, including channels such as CNN and TNT Sports.

“We’re sitting on Wall Street, where cash is still king,” Ellison said.

“We are offering shareholders $17.6 billion more cash than the deal they currently have signed up with Netflix, and we believe when they see what it is currently in our offer, that’s what they’ll vote for.”

CNBC said Ellison values WBD’s linear cable networks — expected to be spun off into a separate company, Discovery Global, in 2026 — at $1 per share, even though WBD executives privately assess them closer to $3 per share.

However, the publication said Paramount has consistently told WBD’s board that keeping the company intact is the best outcome for shareholders.

Ellison said Paramount revised its December 1 bid after WBD asked for changes, but he never received a response from David Zaslav, WBD CEO, after increasing the offer to $30 per share.

Paramount CEO said he sent Zaslav a text message stating that the $30 bid “wasn’t the company’s best and final offer,” suggesting there was room for a higher proposal.

Ellison told CNBC that Paramount expects fewer regulatory hurdles because of its smaller scale and what he described as a positive relationship with the administration of United States President Donald Trump

He said Trump is a believer “in competition” and argued that a Paramount-WBD merger would create “a real competitor to Netflix, a real competitor to Amazon”.

On December 5, Netflix, Inc. and Warner Bros announced “a definitive” acquisition agreement between the two parties.

The streaming giant said in a statement that it will buy Warner Bros., including its film and TV studios, as well as HBO Max and HBO, for $82.7 billion.