Paramount Skydance has made another offer to buy Warner Bros Discovery as it seeks to trump a rival plan from Netflix to buy the company's studio and streaming networks. Paramount, which is backed by the billionaire Ellison family, said it was making a direct offer to shareholders of $30 per share to scoop up the whole of Warner Bros, including its traditional television networks.
It said its proposal was a superior alternative to Netflix's, delivering more cash upfront to shareholders and greater prospect of approval by regulators. President Donald Trump has said there could be a problem with Netflix's purchase, pointing to competition concerns given the size of the companies.
The hostile bid from Paramount, a smaller player than Netflix which is known for brands such as CBS News, Nickelodeon, and Mission Impossible, is the latest twist in a saga that started a few months ago, when Paramount started submitting offers to buy Warner Bros. That eventually prompted Warner Bros, owner of HBO and classics from Looney Tunes to Harry Potter, to formally open a bidding process.
Warner Bros declared Netflix the winner of that auction on Friday, announcing a deal that valued its studio and streaming networks, including HBO, at about $83bn, including its debt. It said the sale would proceed after a planned spin-off of other parts of Warner Brothers' business, including CNN, into an independent company.
Paramount's offer values the entire company at $108.4bn, which it said was a better deal. In an interview on CNBC, Mr Ellison also talked up the benefits of his plan for the media industry, arguing that Netflix's takeover of Warner Brothers Discovery would give one firm too much power over actors and other players in the industry.
Any takeover is expected to face scrutiny from competition regulators in the US and Europe. Analysts said Netflix's plan would likely raise concerns about dominance in streaming, while Paramount's proposal would prompt a review of the impact on advertisers and local television distributors, given the power of a combined company over sports and children's networks.
Shares in Warner Bros jumped more than 6% in opening trade on Monday, while Paramount shares were also up, and shares in Netflix dropped more than 3%. Netflix is the biggest streaming company in the world, with more than 300 million subscribers, expressing confidence in winning approval from regulators.
