Paramount Skydance has stepped directly into the corporate ring with a hostile all-cash offer to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, escalating one of the most aggressive entertainment-industry battles in decades. On December 8, 2025, Paramount offered $30.00 per share, valuing WBD at roughly $108.4 billion. The offer surpasses the previously announced Netflix deal, which focused only on the studio and streaming assets. Paramount’s bid targets the entire company, including Warner’s cable networks, sports rights, news divisions, and factual entertainment brands.

Paramount CEO David Ellison framed the move as both strategic and urgent. “WBD shareholders deserve an opportunity to consider our superior all-cash offer for their shares in the entire company,” Ellison said. “Our offer provides superior value, and a more certain and quicker path to completion.” He also emphasized the competing Netflix transaction leaves shareholders with the “uncertain future trading value” of the spun-off cable networks, while Paramount’s acquisition “removes that risk entirely.”

In outlining why its bid should be taken seriously, Paramount stated, “Our proposal provides eighteen billion dollars more in cash than the Netflix agreement.” It also said the combination would be “pro-consumer, pro-competition, and pro-Hollywood,” arguing that rival bidders are “attempting to dismantle or divide an iconic company,” while Paramount intends to keep Warner’s assets “together, properly funded, and positioned to grow.”

The company also revealed that Warner Bros. Discovery had “never engaged meaningfully” with six prior proposals. Paramount said that after repeated attempts behind the scenes, “we are now taking our proposal directly to shareholders because the board has not acted in their best interest.”

Financing for the deal is backed by a consortium including sovereign-wealth investors, major lenders and private-equity groups. One insider described the financing commitments as “solid, long-term and ready to deploy,” signaling that Paramount wants to erase any doubt about its ability to complete the takeover.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s board responded cautiously. In a brief statement, the company said it will “carefully review Paramount’s proposal,” but advised shareholders to “take no action at this time.” The board reaffirmed its support for the Netflix agreement, saying it “continues to believe the transaction announced last week delivers compelling value and strategic clarity.”

Behind these competing statements sits a high-stakes showdown. If Paramount were to take over WBD, it would merge two of the oldest names in entertainment, combining Paramount Pictures, CBS, Nickelodeon, Showtime, Pluto TV, and Paramount+ with Warner Bros. Discovery’s studios, HBO, DC Entertainment, Adult Swim, CNN, TNT, TBS and more. The sheer size of that entity would immediately trigger regulatory scrutiny. Critics have called the offer “a direct threat to competition,” while others in Hollywood are concerned about the impact on creatives. One guild representative said the bid “consolidates too much power into too few hands,” and warned that workers will “bear the brunt of these deals unless strict protections are imposed.”

Paramount disputes that narrative. “We are not shrinking this industry,” the company wrote in its public filing. “We are strengthening it.” They also stressed a commitment to theatrical releases, saying, “We believe in cinema. We believe in large-scale creative investment. This merger will help restore Hollywood’s ability to take risks.”

For now, the future of Warner Bros. Discovery is suspended in uncertainty. Paramount’s public bid places pressure on Netflix to respond — either by raising its offer or altering the terms of its existing agreement. Shareholders will play a pivotal role, and regulatory agencies in the United States and Europe will likely have a profound influence over what happens next.

What began as a straightforward sale has evolved into a heavyweight contest between two major players who now see Warner Bros. Discovery as the centerpiece of Hollywood’s next era. Paramount has made it clear: “This is the right deal, at the right time, with the right vision.” Whether shareholders and regulators agree is now the question that will shape the entertainment landscape for years.