# Hollywood's Biggest Bidding War Just Got More Intense: Warner Bros. Is Reviewing a Sweeter Paramount Offer

**Published: February 24, 2026**

If you've been following the entertainment news lately, you know that two of the biggest names in Hollywood are in a knock-down, drag-out fight over Warner Bros. Discovery. And today, that fight just got a whole lot more interesting.

Warner Bros. Discovery just confirmed that they've received yet another revised takeover offer from Paramount Skydance . The company's board is now reviewing it with their financial and legal advisors. But here's the kicker: they're not sharing any details about what's actually in this new bid .

So what's really going on behind closed doors? And why does this matter for anyone who watches movies, streams shows, or owns stock? Let me break it all down in plain English.

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## The Short Version

**What happened:** Paramount Skydance just submitted another sweetened offer to buy all of Warner Bros. Discovery. Warner's board is now reviewing it .

**What they're not telling us:** The terms of this new bid haven't been disclosed. Not the price, not the structure, nothing .

**What hasn't changed:** Warner's agreement with Netflix is still in effect, and the board is still recommending that deal to shareholders .

**What happens next:** The board will finish their review and update shareholders. If they decide Paramount's offer is actually better, Netflix gets four days to match it or walk away .

**The backstory:** This has been going on since December, when Netflix first agreed to buy Warner's studio and streaming assets for about $82.7 billion . Three days later, Paramount launched a hostile bid to buy the whole company for $108 billion . Warner's board has rejected Paramount multiple times. But this time feels different.

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## The Players: Who's Who in This Drama

Before we go any further, let's make sure we know who we're talking about.

**Table 1: The Main Characters in This Story**

| **Who** | **What They Are** | **What They Want** |

| :--- | :--- | :--- |

| Warner Bros. Discovery | The prize. Owns Warner Bros. studio, HBO, CNN, Discovery networks, and a massive library including Harry Potter, Batman, and Friends | To get the best deal for shareholders |

| Netflix | The streaming giant. 280 million subscribers worldwide | To buy Warner's studio and streaming assets (HBO Max) for $82.7 billion  |

| Paramount Skydance | The challenger. Run by David Ellison, backed by his dad Larry Ellison (Oracle billionaire) | To buy ALL of Warner Bros. Discovery for $108 billion  |

| David Ellison | CEO of Paramount Skydance, son of Larry Ellison | To win this deal and become a Hollywood powerhouse  |

| Larry Ellison | Oracle co-founder, Trump donor | Bankrolling the bid  |

| Ted Sarandos | Netflix co-CEO | To close the deal and make Netflix even more dominant |

| Donald Trump | The President | Has said he'll be "involved" in the decision  |

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## The Timeline: How We Got Here

This didn't happen overnight. Let's walk through the key dates.

**Table 2: The Bidding War Timeline**

| **Date** | **What Happened** |

| :--- | :--- |

| Dec 5, 2025 | Netflix agrees to buy Warner's studio and HBO Max for $82.7 billion  |

| Dec 8, 2025 | Paramount launches hostile $108 billion bid for ALL of Warner Bros.  |

| Dec 17, 2025 | Warner board tells shareholders to reject Paramount, stick with Netflix  |

| Dec 22, 2025 | Paramount revises offer. Warner board rejects again  |

| Jan 20, 2026 | Netflix switches to all-cash offer  |

| Feb 10, 2026 | Paramount revises again, strengthens the bid  |

| Feb 17, 2026 | Netflix grants Warner a 7-day waiver to talk to Paramount  |

| Feb 23, 2026 | 7-day window closes. Paramount submits new bid  |

| Feb 24, 2026 | Warner confirms they're reviewing it  |

| March 20, 2026 | Shareholders scheduled to vote on Netflix deal  |

See that last date? March 20. That's when shareholders were supposed to vote on the Netflix deal. But if this new Paramount bid is good enough, that vote could get delayed—or scrapped entirely.

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## What We Know About the New Bid

Here's the honest truth: **we don't know much**. Warner Bros. isn't sharing details. Paramount isn't sharing details. But we can piece together some context.

**The Previous Paramount Offer:**

- $30 per share in cash for all of Warner Bros. Discovery 

- Total enterprise value: about **$108 billion** 

- That includes CNN, TNT, Discovery networks—everything

**The Netflix Offer:**

- $27.75 per share in cash 

- Total enterprise value: about **$82.7 billion** 

- Only includes studio and streaming assets. Cable networks get spun off.

So Paramount is already offering more money and buying the whole company. The question is: how much higher did they go this time?

Industry watchers have been expecting Paramount to bump their offer to **$31 or $32 per share** . Some think they might need to go even higher to actually win.

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## What Paramount Added to Sweeten the Pot

In previous rounds, Paramount has tried to address Warner's concerns by adding some creative sweeteners:

**Table 3: How Paramount Is Trying to Win**

| **Sweetener** | **What It Means** |

| :--- | :--- |

| Cover the breakup fee | Paramount will pay the $2.8 billion Warner would owe Netflix if they walk away  |

| "Ticking fee" | If the deal takes too long, Paramount pays Warner shareholders an extra 25 cents per share every quarter starting January 2027  |

| Debt refinancing backing | Paramount is backing Warner's debt refinancing  |

| More equity | Larry Ellison is backing over $40 billion in equity from his family and other investors  |

These aren't small concessions. The ticking fee alone could add up to real money if regulators drag their feet.

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## The Regulatory Mess: This Could Take Years

Here's the thing about buying a company this size: **you can't just write a check**. You have to get approval from regulators. Lots of them.

**The U.S. Situation:**

Paramount just cleared a big hurdle. The federal antitrust waiting period for their bid expired on February 21 . That means there's no statutory impediment in the U.S. to closing the deal.

But—and this is a big but—that's not the same as formal approval. The Justice Department can still sue to block it later . And they're already investigating how either deal would impact movie theaters and film production .

**The DOJ is particularly worried about:**

- Netflix rarely releasing films in theaters 

- Paramount taking on so much debt they'd have to slash film production 

- Either deal leading to fewer movies being made 

**Movie theater chains are sounding the alarm.** Cinema United, a trade group that includes AMC and Regal, called a Netflix deal "culturally catastrophic" . They're not thrilled about Paramount either, but at least Paramount has a long history of theatrical releases.

**International regulators** will also have their say. The U.K. and European Union are expected to take a hard look .

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## The Political Angle: Trump, the Ellisons, and CNN

Here's where this gets really interesting. And by interesting, I mean complicated.

**Larry Ellison**, the Oracle billionaire bankrolling Paramount's bid, is a donor to President Trump . His son David runs Paramount Skydance.

Trump has already said he'll be **"involved"** in any decision on the merger . And if Paramount wins, CNN—which Trump has spent years attacking—would end up under Ellison family control .

There's already been fallout at CBS, which Paramount owns. Critics say changes there have been more to the White House's liking . So people are watching what might happen at CNN.

**Netflix, for their part, is trying to play it cool.** Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said his talks with Trump have focused on keeping jobs in America, not politics . When Trump recently attacked Netflix board member Susan Rice on social media, Sarandos told the BBC: "He likes to do a lot of things on social media. This is a business deal. It's not a political deal" .

Tell that to the Democratic senators who are already raising concerns. A group led by Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren just sent a letter to David Ellison demanding they preserve records related to the deal .

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## The Bigger Question: Should Anyone Win This Bidding War?

Here's something you don't hear every day: **maybe the smartest move is to lose**.

That's the argument being made by some finance professors who've studied decades of mergers and acquisitions.

**The research is sobering:**

- Between 70% and 75% of M&A deals fail 

- One study put the failure rate at 83% 

- Larger deals are less likely to succeed 

- Deals financed with lots of debt have worse odds 

Both Netflix and Paramount would take on **more than $50 billion in long-term debt** if their bids succeed . That's a lot of certainty (debt payments) for an uncertain outcome (making the deal work).

**Aswath Damodaran**, a finance professor at NYU, put it bluntly: "Whoever wins this bidding war [for Warner Bros.] will have a poisoned chalice. The entertainment business is broken. Spending tens of billions up front for WBD provides no real benefits other than consolidation, and ending up with a larger market share of a broken business does not qualify as winning" .

There's even a name for this phenomenon: **the "winner's curse."** One study found that the stocks of winning bidders underperformed the losers by 24% over three years .

So maybe the real winner in all this is whoever walks away.

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## What Shareholders Are Thinking

Not all Warner shareholders are happy with how this has played out.

**Ancora Holdings**, an activist investor with a nearly $200 million stake, plans to oppose the Netflix deal . They think the board didn't engage enough with Paramount.

**Pentwater Capital Management** has also been pushing the board to take Paramount seriously .

But here's the thing: **less than 2% of outstanding shares have been tendered to Paramount so far** . So shareholders haven't exactly been rushing to support the hostile bid.

The special shareholder meeting is scheduled for March 20 . That's when they'll vote on the Netflix deal—unless something changes before then.

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## What Happens Next

Okay, so where do we go from here?

**Step 1:** Warner's board finishes reviewing the new Paramount bid.

**Step 2:** They decide whether it's "superior" to the Netflix deal.

**Step 3:** If yes, they notify Netflix. Netflix gets **four days** to match or beat it .

**Step 4:** If Netflix matches, shareholders vote on the higher offer. If Netflix walks, Paramount wins.

**Step 5:** Whoever wins still has to get through regulatory review, which could take months or years.

**Step 6:** Then they have to actually make the deal work, which history says is the hardest part.

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## What This Means for Regular People

Okay, so why should you care about all this corporate drama?

### If You're a Streaming Subscriber

This deal will shape what you watch for years to come. If Netflix wins, HBO Max content moves under the Netflix umbrella. If Paramount wins, Warner's massive library combines with Paramount's. Either way, the streaming landscape changes dramatically.

### If You Go to Movie Theaters

This matters a lot. Netflix has a spotty record with theatrical releases. Paramount has a long history of putting movies in theaters. The DOJ is already worried that either deal could mean **fewer new films on the big screen** .

### If You're an Investor

The conventional wisdom says bidding wars are dangerous. History shows most acquisitions fail. The winning bidder often underperforms for years. If you own stock in any of these companies, pay attention to what happens after the deal closes—not just before.

### If You Just Like Movies

Warner Bros. has been making movies for over 100 years. Casablanca. Batman. Harry Potter. The fate of that studio—and the people who work there—is in the balance. That's not nothing.

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## Frequently Asked Questions

**Q: How much is Paramount offering?**

A: They haven't disclosed the new bid. The previous offer was $30 per share, valuing Warner at about $108 billion . Wall Street expects this one to be $31-32 or higher .

**Q: How much is Netflix offering?**

A: $27.75 per share, valuing Warner's studio and streaming assets at about $82.7 billion .

**Q: What's the difference?**

A: Paramount wants to buy **all** of Warner Bros. Discovery—including CNN, TNT, and the Discovery networks. Netflix only wants the studio and streaming assets. The cable networks would be spun off into a separate company if Netflix wins .

**Q: Which deal is better for shareholders?**

A: On price alone, Paramount's offer is higher. But the Netflix deal has been approved by Warner's board and has clearer financing. Some analysts also worry that Paramount would take on too much debt, making the combined company risky .

**Q: When will we know who wins?**

A: The board is reviewing the new bid now. Shareholders are scheduled to vote on the Netflix deal March 20 . If Paramount's offer is deemed superior, that vote could be postponed.

**Q: Can Netflix just raise their bid?**

A: Yes. If Warner's board declares Paramount's offer superior, Netflix gets four days to match or exceed it .

**Q: What about regulators?**

A: Both deals face intense scrutiny. The DOJ is already investigating how either deal would impact movie theaters and film production . International regulators will also weigh in.

**Q: What does Trump have to do with this?**

A: Larry Ellison, who's bankrolling Paramount's bid, is a Trump donor. Trump has said he'll be "involved" in the decision . If Paramount wins, CNN would end up under Ellison family control, which has raised eyebrows given Trump's history with the network.

**Q: Are shareholders happy about this?**

A: Mixed. Some activist investors want the board to take Paramount seriously. But less than 2% of shares have been tendered to Paramount's hostile offer .

**Q: What's the "winner's curse"?**

A: It's the idea that the winning bidder in an auction often overpays and ends up worse off than the loser. Studies show that acquiring companies' stocks underperform the losers by about 24% over three years .

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## The Bottom Line

Here's what I keep coming back to.

This bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery has all the elements of a Hollywood blockbuster. There's a plucky challenger (Paramount) backed by a billionaire (Larry Ellison). There's an industry disruptor (Netflix) trying to cement its dominance. There's a century-old studio (Warner Bros.) caught in the middle. And there's a former president (Trump) hovering in the background, promising to get involved.

But beneath all the drama, there's a real question that nobody seems to be asking: **Should either of them actually do this deal?**

The research is pretty clear. Most mergers fail. Big deals with lots of debt fail even more often. The entertainment business is in flux. Streaming profits are elusive. Linear TV is dying. The whole industry is trying to figure out what comes next.

**Aswath Damodaran** may have said it best: "Spending tens of billions up front for WBD provides no real benefits other than consolidation, and ending up with a larger market share of a broken business does not qualify as winning" .

So maybe—just maybe—the smartest move for both Netflix and Paramount is to let the other guy win.

But that's not how Hollywood works. And it's not how egos work. So the bidding war continues.

Warner's board is reviewing the new offer. Shareholders are waiting. Regulators are watching. And the rest of us are just along for the ride.

Whatever happens, one thing is certain: the entertainment industry will look very different on the other side of this deal. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing? That's what the next few years will tell us.

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*Got thoughts on who should win this bidding war? Drop them in the comments. And if you're a Warner shareholder, I'd love to hear what you're thinking right now.*