Paramount makes $108.4bn bid for Warner Bros Discovery, challenging Netflix’s offer
Newsflash: Paramount Skydance has launched a hostile takeover offer for Warner Bros Discovery, in an attempt to derail Netflix’s bid for the movie studio and streaming network.
Paramount claims that its offer “provides superior value, and a more certain and quicker path to completion to WBD shareholders” than the Netflix offer, which has led to a backlash since it was announced last Friday.
Paramount are offering to pay $30.00 per share in cash for Warner Brothers Discovery, which equates to an enterprise value of $108.4bn – ahead of Netflix’s offer which was worth $83bn.
David Ellison, Chairman and CEO of Paramount, says:
“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.”
Updated at 09.33 EST
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The pre-market trading was correct!
Warner Brothers’ shares are up 7.6% in early trading on Wall Street, pushing them up to $28.07.
That’s still below Paramount’s new $30 per share all cash bid, but above Netflix’s $27.75 cash-and-share offer.
There is one crucial difference between the two takeover offers for Warner Brothers Discovery.
Paramount’s bid is for the entirety of Warner Bros – its cable businesses as well as its studio and streaming operations.
Netflix, though, is only trying to buy the Hollywood studios and streaming business.
Warner Bros had previously announced it would separate its Streaming & Studios and Global Networks divisions into two separate publicly traded companies.
ShareWarner Bros shares are rallying…
Shares in Warner Brothers Discovery are soaring, after Paramount charged into the takeover battle a few minutes ago.
Warner Bros’s shares have jumped by 7.4% in premarket trading to around $28.
That’s slightly above Netflix’s offer of $27.75 per share, which Paramount has now trumped with its $30/share offer.
Updated at 09.26 EST
Paramount: Why our deal is better
Paramount cites three reasons why its offer is better than Netflix’s.
They say:
Price: 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. In contrast, the Netflix proposal entails a volatile and complex structure 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).
Structure: Paramount proposal is for all of WBD, without leaving WBD shareholders with a sub-scale and highly leveraged stub in Global Networks, as the Netflix agreement assumes.
Timeline and regulatory certainty: Paramount is highly confident in achieving expeditious regulatory clearance for its proposed offer, as it enhances competition and is pro-consumer, while creating a strong champion for creative talent and consumer choice. In contrast, the Netflix transaction is predicated on the unrealistic assumption that its anticompetitive combination with WBD, which would entrench its monopoly with a 43% share of global Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) subscribers, could withstand multiple protracted regulatory challenges across the world. In many European Union countries the Netflix transaction would combine the dominant SVOD player with the number two or strong number three competitor. The Netflix transaction creates a clear risk of higher prices for consumers, lower pay for content creators and talent and the destruction of American and international theatrical exhibitors. Netflix has never undertaken large-scale acquisitions, resulting in increased execution risk which WBD shareholders would have to endure.
ShareParamount: Warner Bros wouldn’t engage meaningfully, so we’re going straight to shareholders
Paramount also accuses Warner Brothers of “never engaging meaningfully” with its proposals.
Paramount says it submitting six proposals over the course of 12 weeks during the sale process, so it is now taking its offer directly to WBD shareholders and its Board of Directors “to ensure they have the opportunity to pursue this clearly superior alternative” [to the Netflix offer, which was accepted last week].
Paramount’s David Ellison says:
“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.”
ShareParamount makes $108.4bn bid for Warner Bros Discovery, challenging Netflix’s offer
Newsflash: Paramount Skydance has launched a hostile takeover offer for Warner Bros Discovery, in an attempt to derail Netflix’s bid for the movie studio and streaming network.
Paramount claims that its offer “provides superior value, and a more certain and quicker path to completion to WBD shareholders” than the Netflix offer, which has led to a backlash since it was announced last Friday.
Paramount are offering to pay $30.00 per share in cash for Warner Brothers Discovery, which equates to an enterprise value of $108.4bn – ahead of Netflix’s offer which was worth $83bn.
David Ellison, Chairman and CEO of Paramount, says:
“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.”
Updated at 09.33 EST
Deal news: International Business Machines Corp. is buying the data-streaming platform Confluent.
IBM has agreed to pay $31 per share for Confluent, which values the company at $9.3bn, meaning the deal is worth $11bn once you include debt.
Confluent’s platform is aimed at helping companies deploy generative AI and fraud detection applications. Shares in the company have jumped 28% in pre-market trading to $29.60.
Moneyfacts has also spotted that the choice of low deposit mortgages is at its highest since 2008.
At the start of December, there were 476 products on the market for borrowers with a 5% deposit, and 917 deals for people with a 10% deposit.
Rachel Springall, finance expert at Moneyfacts, explains:
“Year-on-year the mortgage market has seen an optimistic shift in the availability of products aimed at borrowers with a small deposit or equity, with almost 300 products added to the roster at 90% and 95% loan-to-value.
The volume of deals at these tiers now rests at their highest counts since March 2008. The Government has been very vocal that it wants lenders to do more to support buyers to boost UK growth, so any improvement in high loan-to-value deals should be celebrated as it gives borrowers more choice as competition ramps up.
The Bank of England is planning to reduce its head count, Bloomberg reports.
It plans to cut staff numbers, they say, as the BoE’s finances become strained by the cost of implementing the modernizations recommended by Ben Bernanke.
The UK central bank has invited employees to volunteer for potential layoffs, according to two people familiar with the matter. It will run “a mutually agreed, time-limited scheme for staff to choose to apply to leave,” the bank confirmed in a statement, adding that it had struck a deal for a 3% pay increase next year.
Share“The first signs of a full-scale price war” for mortgages
Mortgage expert Nicholas Mendes of broker John Charcol says there are signs of a “price war” in the home loans market:
Santander’s move to 3.51 per cent has very clearly set the pace, and at the moment it is the standout cheapest option for borrowers taking £500,000 or more, once fees are factored in. Nationwide’s 3.58 per cent sits just behind it, which shows how tight the spread has become at the top end of the market. This is textbook competitive positioning from the big lenders, and it signals a deliberate push to capture low-risk, high-equity borrowers before activity ramps up in the new year.
We’re now seeing the first signs of a full-scale price war. NatWest and Barclays have both given notice of further reductions landing tomorrow, and the speed at which these updates are coming through tells you lenders want to be front of mind ahead of the next Bank of England decision. With swaps holding steady and market pricing pointing towards cheaper funding conditions, the high street is clearly preparing for stronger demand in early 2026.
Updated at 07.25 EST
Giant angry Magnum protests about ice-cream spin-off
Sarah Butler
The co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s has teamed up with a giant angry Magnum to protest against the spin off of Unilever’s ice cream division today.
Ben Cohen, the co-founder of the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream brand, said:
“Ben & Jerry’s cannot thrive under the current corporate structure. If this continues, the brand will suffer.”
As a protestor dressed as an angry version of the Magnum ice cream on a stick took to the streets outside the London Stock Exchange where the former Unilever division is listing this morning, Cohen said “tens of thousands of people around the world will continue fighting for its future,” under the new structure.
A giant angry Magnum protesting outside the London Stock Exchange Photograph: Shokirie Clarke
He added:
“Ben & Jerry’s social mission has always been inseparable from the brand itself, no matter how much Unilever / Magnum have tried to distance the two. That mission is legally protected, yet Unilever / Magnum has relied on heavy-handed tactics to pressure the independent board and erode the principles that make Ben & Jerry’s unique.
“Spinning off the ice cream division doesn’t change that. It’s the same leadership, the same decision-makers, and the same attempt to step away from responsibilities they committed to decades ago.”
SharePeter ter Kulve (CEO) of The Magnum Ice Cream Company (TMICC) after the opening gong at Euronext. Photograph: ANP/Shutterstock
The Magnum Ice Cream Company’s long-awaited spinoff from Unilever got underway in Amsterdam today.
Magnum’s stock traded at €12.81 per share in its Amsterdam debut on Monday, implying a market capitalisation of €7.84bn, Reuters reports.
It also listed on London’s stock market this morning, and will join the New York Stock Exchange today too.
Peter ter Kulve (CEO) of The Magnum Ice Cream Company (TMICC) before the opening gong at Euronext. Photograph: ANP/ShutterstockShare