What seemed like a complete acquisition has become a complex public war in a matter of days. After Netflix’s announcement last Friday in which it confirmed the purchase of Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) for $82.7 billion, Paramount Skydance announced it has commenced an all-cash tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Warner Bros. Discovery for $30.00 per share in cash. The proposed transaction is for the entire WBD, including the Global Networks segment, as it has claimed in a statement.

Paramount provides a “superior alternative” to the Netflix transaction: an all-cash offer at $30.00 per share, equating to an enterprise value of $108.4 billion, which represents a 139% premium to the undisturbed WBD stock price of $12.54 as of September 10, 2025.

The equity –affirms – will be backstopped by Ellison Family and RedBird Capital in addition to debt fully committed by Bank of America, Citi and Apollo. Warner’s total acquisition includes the Warner Bros. film studio, the HBO Max service and a portfolio of cable television channels.

In contrars, his opponent closed a deal last Friday valued at $27.75 mix of cash ($23.25) and stock ($4.50), subject to collar and the future performance of Netflix, equating to an enterprise value of $82.7 billion (excluding SpinCo)

One “superior alternative” VS. one “uncertain value”

According to Paramount, this latest proposal “offers inferior and uncertain value and exposes WBD shareholders to a protracted multi-jurisdictional regulatory clearance process with an uncertain outcome along with a complex and volatile mix of equity and cash”.

David Ellison, Chairman and CEO of Paramount, explains: “WBD shareholders deserve an opportunity to consider our superior all-cash offer for their shares in the entire company. Our public offer, which is on the same terms we provided to the Warner Bros. Discovery Board of Directors in private, provides superior value, and a more certain and quicker path to completion. We believe the WBD Board of Directors is pursuing an inferior proposal which exposes shareholders to a mix of cash and stock, an uncertain future trading value of the Global Networks linear cable business and a challenging regulatory approval process. We are taking our offer directly to shareholders to give them the opportunity to act in their own best interests and maximize the value of their shares”.

Over the course of 12 weeks, Paramount submitted a total of six proposals. However, they state, “WBD never engaged meaningfully with these” with any of them. Therefore, the company has chosen to take its offer directly to WBD shareholders and its Board of Directors “to ensure they have the opportunity to pursue this clearly superior alternative”.

Ellison continues: “”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. We believe they will benefit from the enhanced competition, higher content spend and theatrical release output, and a greater number of movies in theaters as a result of our proposed transaction. We look forward to working to expeditiously deliver this opportunity so that all stakeholders can begin to capitalize on the benefits of the combined company”.

Paramount’s offer is pending acceptance by WBD shareholders.