Mon, 08 Dec 2025

Mon, 08 Dec 2025 Paramount launches rival bid for Warner Bros Discovery

The Hollywood battle to buy Warner Bros Discovery is shaping up to be a blockbuster.

* Paramount Skydance has made a new offer to buy Warner Bros Discovery, valued at $108.4bn
* This offer values the company's shares at $30 (£22.50) per share, more than Netflix's bid of $83bn (£62.3bn)
* The deal would combine CBS and CNN under the same parent company, raising concerns about dominance in news and local television distribution
* President Trump has expressed potential concerns about the deal, but also praised Paramount's CEO David Ellison
* Wall Street analysts believe a Paramount-Warner Bros combination makes sense to compete against Netflix and Disney
* Paramount is backed by the billionaire Ellison family, including tech billionaire Larry Ellison, who has ties to Trump
* The deal is expected to face scrutiny from competition regulators in the US and Europe
* Shares in Warner Bros rose 4% on Monday while Paramount shares jumped 9%, but Netflix's dropped over 3%
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