Warner Bros. Discovery says it’s reviewing a new takeover offer from Paramount, but it continues to recommend a competing proposal from Netflix to its shareholders in the meantime.
Warner disclosed Tuesday that it had received a revised offer from Paramount after a seven-day window to renew talks with the Skydance-owned company elapsed Monday. Paramount confirmed it had submitted this proposal, but neither provided further details on the bid. The company was widely expected to have raised its offer.
A Warner Bros. Discovery buyout would reshape Hollywood and the wider media landscape — bringing HBO Max, cult-favorite titles like “Harry Potter” and, depending on who wins the Netflix v. Paramount tug-of-war, potentially even CNN under a new roof.
Paramount wants to acquire Warner Bros. in its entirety — including networks like CNN and Discovery — and went straight to shareholders with an all-cash, $77.9 billion hostile offer just days after the Netflix deal was announced in December. Accounting for debt, that bid offered Warner stakeholders $30 per share, amounting to an enterprise value of around $108 billion.
Paramount maintained on Tuesday that its tender offer remains on the table while Warner evaluates its latest proposal.
Netflix only wants to buy Warner’s studio and streaming business for $72 billion in cash, or about $83 billion including debt. Warner’s board has repeatedly backed this deal — and on Tuesday maintained that its agreement with Netflix still stands.
A press contact for Netflix did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Warner shareholders are set to vote on the Netflix proposal on March 20.
If Warner’s board changes course and deems Paramount’s latest offer superior, Netflix would have a chance to match or revise its proposal, potentially setting the stage for a fresh bidding war. It could also choose to walk away.
Paramount, Warner and Netflix have spent the last couple of months in a heated back and forth over who has a stronger deal. But many lawmakers and entertainment trade groups have sounded the alarm along the way, warning that either buyout of all or parts of Warner’s business would only further consolidate power in an industry already run by just a few major players. Critics say that could result in job losses, less diversity in filmmaking and potentially more headaches for consumers who are facing rising costs of streaming subscriptions as is.
Combined, that raises tremendous antitrust concerns — and a Warner sale could come down to who gets the regulatory greenlight. The U.S. Department of Justice has already initiated reviews, and other countries are expected to do so.
Both Paramount and Netflix have argued that their proposals are good for consumers and the wider industry. And the companies have taken aim at each other publicly with regulatory arguments.
Paramount has pointed to Netflix’s much larger market value. And it’s argued that if the streaming giant acquires Warner, it would only give it more dominance in the subscription video on demand space. But Netflix is trying to convince regulators that it’s up against broader video libraries, particularly Google’s YouTube. Netflix has also said that since it doesn’t currently have the same studios and film distribution that Warner does, it would preserve and grow those operations — whereas a Warner-Paramount merger would combine two of Hollywood’s last five major studios, as well as theatrical channels and news networks.
Politics could also come into play. President Donald Trump previously made unprecedented suggestions about his involvement in seeing a deal through, before walking back those statements and maintaining that regulatory approval will be up to the Justice Department.
Trump has a close relationship with the billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison (the father of Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison) who is heavily backing Paramount’s bid to buy Warner. And the push to acquire Warner arrive just months after Skydance closed its own buyout of Paramount — in a contentious merger approved just weeks after the company agreed to pay the president $16 million to settle a lawsuit over editing at Paramount’s “60 Minutes” program on CBS. Under new ownership, CBS has seen significant editorial shifts, notably with the installation of Free Press founder Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief of CBS News. Critics say similar changes could happen at Warner’s CNN if Paramount’s bid is successful.
But Trump has continued to publicly lash out at Paramount over editorial decisions at CBS’ “60 Minutes.” The president also previously met with Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, who he called a “fantastic man.”
—Wyatte Grantham-Philips, AP business writer