Battle over 102-year-old Hollywood giant turns hostile
The battle between Netflix and Paramount stands to reshape the entertainment industry regardless of who wins.
With Warner Bros. films and TV shows, Netflix would wield tremendous new power over the content offered to online audiences.
Paramount aims to marry two legacy Hollywood studios to counter the influence of Netflix, Walt Disney Co. and Amazon.com Inc.
Both bids raise significant antitrust concerns, underscored by multibillion-dollar breakup fees the parties have offered, and both companies have been laying the groundwork to win over the White House.
Warner Bros. will “carefully review and consider Paramount Skydance’s offer,” according to a statement Monday.
The board isn’t modifying its recommendation regarding the Netflix bid, which it approved last week.
Warner Bros. said it aims to advise stockholders on the board’s recommendation for the Paramount offer within 10 business days.
Paramount, the parent of CBS, MTV and other media businesses, instigated the battle several months ago when it made multiple offers for Warner Bros.
The company decided to put itself up for sale in October and received several rounds of bids, including from Netflix and Comcast Corp.
Comcast said Monday it didn’t see a “high likelihood” of winning.
Warner Bros. shares were up 4.4% to $27.23 at the close in New York on Monday, while Paramount gained 9%. Netflix lost 3.4% and is down 11% in the last four trading sessions.
Paramount argues that its $30-a-share offer is greater than Netflix’s, but comparing the two bids is complicated by Warner Bros.’ plans to spin off cable networks such as CNN, TNT and the Discovery Channel.
Under terms of the deal announced with Netflix on Dec. 5, Warner Bros. would divest those networks before the planned merger closes.
The spinoff is worth $1 a share for Warner investors, Paramount Chief Operating Officer Andrew Gordon told investors on a conference call Monday.
Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Geetha Ranganathan estimates the cable channels are worth $4 for every Warner Bros. share, making the Netflix bid higher.
Paramount also said its offer gives Warner Bros. shareholders $18 billion more in cash than the Netflix bid.
On a conference call with investors, Chief Operating Officer Andy Gordon said Paramount’s tender offer will be open for 20 business days and could be extended. Warner Bros. has 10 days to respond, he said.
“We’re really here to finish what we started,” Ellison said on CNBC.
Both bidders are likely to face an extended review by regulators all over the globe, though Paramount argues its transaction is more likely to be approved because Netflix has a much larger share of the streaming TV market than Paramount+.
Netflix co-Chief Executive Officer Ted Sarandos has personally courted Trump, meeting him at the White House last month and last year at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida.
He has argued Netflix competes with services like YouTube and ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok, as well as with Hollywood.
When asked about the Netflix deal on Sunday, Trump said it will “go through a process” and that “it is a big market share. It could be a problem.”
Trump on Monday criticized CBS’s 60 Minutes following an interview the program had with US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.
He said CBS parent Paramount is “no better than the old ownership.”
If Warner Bros. breaks its current agreement it will be required to pay Netflix a $2.8 billion fee, an expense typically borne by the new acquirer.
Netflix has agreed to pay $5.8 billion to Warner Bros. if the deal falls through on its end or doesn’t win regulatory approval.
According to a person familiar with Warner Bros.’ thinking, it will take an offer of about $33 a share to get the company to reconsider the Netflix sale.
In a regulatory filing, Paramount said the financing for its bid includes $11.8 billion from the Ellison family, $24 billion from three Middle East sovereign wealth funds, and additional funds from RedBird Capital Partners and Affinity Partners.
Ellison is the son of Oracle Corp. co-founder Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people. China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd., which had planned to participate, has dropped out, according to Paramount.
Paramount doesn’t anticipate a review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, a federal authority that scrutinizes deals with international funding.
“The Warner Bros Discovery acquisition is far from over,” said Ross Benes, an analyst at Emarketer.
“Netflix is in the driver’s seat but there will be twists and turns before the finish line. Paramount will appeal to shareholders, regulators, and politicians to try to stymie Netflix. The battle could become prolonged.”
Bets on the prediction marketplace Polymarket showed a 16% chance of Netflix closing the acquisition by the end of 2026, down from around 23% before Paramount made the hostile bid.
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