New York, December 09, 2025
Paramount Global has launched a hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), offering $30 per share in cash, significantly outbidding Netflix’s earlier $27.75 per share proposal. This offer, announced in December 2025, represents a 139% premium over WBD’s stock price from September 2025, signaling Paramount’s aggressive pursuit of one of the entertainment industry’s largest consolidation deals.
Paramount’s proposal contrasts with Netflix’s all-stock and partial-cash offer by including the entire WBD portfolio, encompassing cable channels such as CNN, which Netflix’s bid excludes. Paramount argues its all-cash offer delivers immediate, superior value with a quicker and more certain transaction path, avoiding the regulatory and operational uncertainties linked to Netflix’s mixed deal. This bid values WBD substantially higher, providing shareholders with an $18 billion larger cash component than Netflix’s $83 billion agreement.
Strategic Vision and Market Positioning
Paramount’s leadership intends to integrate both studios’ content production capabilities, maintaining strong theatrical release strategies alongside a focused build-out of a profitable direct-to-consumer streaming service. The media giant sees this acquisition as transformational, aiming to establish a Hollywood powerhouse with enhanced scale, diverse creative talent, and expanded market reach.
In contrast, Netflix CEO has publicly dismissed Paramount’s hostile bid, emphasizing Netflix’s strategic focus on streaming synergies and expansion. He criticized Paramount’s approach as likely involving deep operational cuts due to overlapping assets, projecting a leaner combined streaming operation under Netflix’s ownership.
Industry and Market Impact
Analysts estimate a merged Paramount–WBD entity would command about 8% of total television streaming time, a substantial but modest share compared to a Netflix–WBD combination’s projected 21%. Both figures lag behind YouTube’s leading 28% share, reinforcing the highly competitive landscape among streaming and media platforms.
Regulatory scrutiny remains a significant hurdle for both bidders, with Paramount promoting its all-cash offer as a streamlined solution to consummate the deal efficiently.
Background and Bid Comparison
Netflix’s initial $83 billion deal, announced earlier, aimed to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery primarily for its streaming and studio assets but excluded the cable division. Paramount’s entry complicates what was expected to be a definitive merger, intensifying a bidding war characterized by differing operational visions and asset valuations.
Paramount’s bid highlights the premium on traditional broadcasting and cable networks still regarded as strategically valuable amid the ongoing transformation of media consumption.
This unfolding saga marks a critical juncture in the media sector’s consolidation wave, with Paramount challenging Netflix’s streaming dominance and underlining the evolving dynamics of content ownership, distribution, and monetization in a digitized global entertainment market. Market watchers will closely observe these developments, which could reshape competitive structures and influence investor confidence across the industry.