Paramount goes hostile in bid for Warner Bros., challenging a $72
billion offer by Netflix
[December 09, 2025] By
MICHELLE CHAPMAN and BERNARD CONDON
NEW YORK (AP) — Paramount on Monday launched a hostile takeover offer
for Warner Bros. Discovery, initiating a potentially bruising battle
with rival bidder Netflix to buy the company behind HBO, CNN and a famed
movie studio along with the power to reshape much of the nation's
entertainment landscape.
Emerging just days after top Warner managers agreed to Netflix's $72
billion purchase, the Paramount bid seeks to go over the heads of those
leaders by appealing directly to Warner shareholders with more money —
$74.4 billion — and a plan to buy all of Warner's business, including
the cable business that Netflix does not want.
Paramount said its decision to go hostile came after it made several
earlier offers that Warner management “never engaged meaningfully” with
following the company's October announcement that it was open to selling
itself.
In its appeal to shareholders, Paramount noted its offer also contains
more cash than Netflix's bid — $18 billion more — and argued that it's
more likely to pass scrutiny from President Donald Trump's
administration, a big concern given his habit of injecting himself in
American business decisions.
Over the weekend, Trump said the Netflix-Warner combo “could be a
problem” because of the size of the combined market share and that he
planned to review the deal personally.
For its part, Netflix says it is confident Warner will reject the
Paramount bid and that regulators, and Trump, will back its deal, citing
multiple conversations that co-CEO Ted Sarandos has had with him about
the streaming company's expansion and hiring.
“I think the president’s interest in this is the same as ours, which is
to create and protect jobs," Sarandos said Monday at an investor
conference.
Battle draws political attention in Washington
The fight for Warner drew strong reaction in Washington, with
politicians from both major parties weighing in on the likely impact on
streaming prices, movie theater employment and the diversity of
entertainment choices and political views.
Paramount, run by David Ellison, whose family is closely allied with
Trump, said it had submitted six proposals to Warner over a 12-week
period before the latest offer.
“We believe our offer will create a stronger Hollywood. It is in the
best interests of the creative community, consumers and the movie
theater industry," the Paramount CEO said in a statement. Ellison added
that his deal would lead to more competition in the industry, not less,
and more movies in theaters.
A regulatory document released Monday suggested another possible
Paramount advantage to win over Trump: An investment firm run by Trump's
son-in-law Jared Kushner would be investing in the deal, too.
Also participating would be funds controlled by the governments of three
unnamed Persian Gulf countries, widely reported as Saudi Arabia, Abu
Dhabi and Qatar. Trump's family company has struck deals this year for
buildings and resorts that bear his name in Saudi Arabia and Qatar,
partnering in the former with a company closely tied to the government
and in the latter with the government fund itself.
Also possibly in Paramount's favor are recent changes at CBS News since
its October purchase of the news and commentary website The Free Press.
The site's founder, Bari Weiss, who has a reputation for fighting “woke”
culture, was then installed as editor-in-chief in a signal Ellison
intended to shake up the storied network of Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather
and “60 Minutes," long viewed by many conservatives as the
personification of a liberal media establishment.
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The Warner Bros. water tower is seen at Warner Bros. Studios in
Burbank, Calif., Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
 Trump is a wild card
Still, Trump is a wild card given his tendency to make decisions
based on gut and his personal mood.
On Monday, he lashed out at Paramount for allowing “60 Minutes” to
interview his ally-turned-enemy Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, writing
on social media that “THEY ARE NO BETTER THAN THE OLD OWNERSHIP."
The drama surrounding control of Warner began Friday when Netflix
made the surprise announcement that it had struck a deal with its
management to buy the Hollywood giant behind “Harry Potter,” HBO Max
and DC Studios.
The cash and stock proposal was valued at $27.75 per Warner share,
giving it a total enterprise value of $82.7 billion, including debt
that will be assumed in the deal. By contrast, the Paramount offer
is for $30 per Warner share, and worth $108 billion, included
assumed debt. Paramount’s offer is set to expire on Jan. 8 unless
it’s extended.
But comparing the two deals is complicated because they are not
buying the same thing. The Netflix offer, if it goes through, will
only close after Warner completes its previously announced
separation of its cable operations. Not included in the deal, which
is unlikely to close for at least a year, are networks such as CNN
and Discovery.
The federal government has the authority to kill any big media deals
if it has antitrust concerns, but such matters are usually left to
experts at the Department of Justice. In his decision to get
involved personally, Trump has decided, as he has with other
government norms, to make a sharp break with precedent.
That worries Usha Haley, a Wichita State University specialist in
international business strategy, who noted that Ellison is the son
of longtime Trump supporter Larry Ellison, the world’s
second-richest person.
“He said he’s going to be involved in the decision. We should take
him at face value,” Haley said of Trump. “For him, it’s just greater
control over the media."
But others are uncertain how big a role Trump will play.
John Mayo, an antitrust expert at Georgetown University, said the
scrutiny will be serious whichever offer is approved by shareholders
and goes before the DOJ, and that he thinks experts there will keep
partisanship out of their decisions despite the politically charged
atmosphere.
“That may affect at least the rhetoric that occurs in the press," he
said, "though I doubt it will affect the analysis that occurs at the
Department of Justice.”
Shares of Paramount surged 9% on Monday while Netflix fell 3.4%, and
Warner Bros. closed up 4.4%.
___
Associated Press writers Matt Sedensky, David Bauder and Charles
Sheehan in New York and Michael Liedtke in San Francisco contributed
to this report.
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