Paramount Skydance is launching a hostile bid to take over Warner Bros. Discovery, days after falling short in a bidding war against Netflix.
The David Ellison–led company said Monday it will take an all-cash bid of $30 per share directly to WBD shareholders. In his letter, Ellison called Netflix’s proposal for WBD “inferior” and argued that a Paramount deal would face a smoother regulatory review.
“WBD shareholders deserve an opportunity to consider our superior all-cash offer for their shares in the entire company,” Ellison wrote. “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.”
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“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.”
One key difference between the proposals: Netflix’s $82.7 billion offer excludes Warner Bros. Discovery’s cable networks—CNN, TNT, and Discovery—which would be spun off into a separate company. Paramount’s $108 billion bid includes those cable assets.
Ellison, whose father is close with Donald Trump, has long argued that a Paramount deal would face a smoother regulatory path. Netflix, however, has already met with Trump in an effort to preempt such concerns.