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Paramount Skydance may finally have the upper hand on Netflix in the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery.
The WBD board announced on Thursday afternoon that it believes Paramount’s offer to buy the entire company for $31 per share is better than Netflix’s proposal to buy its studio and HBO assets for $27.75 per share.
This story will be updated.
After 10 tries, David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance has finally made a proposal that Warner Bros. Discovery’s board is excited about.
Paramount is prepared to pay $31 per share for all of WBD, including its TV networks like CNN and TruTV, up from $30 per share in its previous public offers, WBD told shareholders on Tuesday afternoon.
WBD’s board said Paramount’s offer “could reasonably be expected” to lead to a superior proposal to Netflix’s. However, WBD added that its board had “not made a determination” yet as to whether Paramount’s latest bid is actually better.
If WBD’s board determines that Paramount’s bid is better, then Netflix would have four days to submit a sweetened offer, if it wants. Netflix has offered $27.75 per share for WBD’s streaming and studio assets, and doesn’t want its cable channels. While Netflix could stand pat, doing so could put its dream of buying HBO at risk.
WBD hadn’t been impressed with Paramount’s prior offers, raising issues about everything from its equity backstop to its initial hesitation to cover costs like a breakup fee to Netflix. Paramount patched up those perceived holes by putting a guarantee from billionaire Larry Ellison, the father of Paramount’s CEO, and agreeing to reimburse WBD’s payout to Netflix if the board switched deals.
Paramount’s new offer also includes a so-called “ticking fee,” which will pay WBD shareholders $0.25 per share for each quarter that Paramount’s deal for WBD doesn’t close, starting on September 30. Previously, the ticking fee was slated to start in January 2027.
Paramount has long believed its offers for WBD were better than Netflix’s, reasoning that WBD’s cable channels don’t have much value after accounting for how much debt they’re expected to carry.
Netflix has sold its deal for WBD’s studio and HBO assets as simpler and better for Hollywood. The streaming juggernaut argued that it would “protect and create jobs in America” compared to Paramount, which has promised investors $6 billion in savings if it buys WBD. Netflix has said its deal could create $2 billion to $3 billion in synergies.
WBD warned last week that an employee exodus was possible if it took Paramount’s offer, since staffers could fear mass job cuts.
Another pivotal factor in the fight for Warner Bros. is the regulatory process, both in the US and abroad.
President Donald Trump has sent mixed signals about Netflix’s planned acquisition of Warner Bros., saying that its market share “could be a problem” before pledging to stay out of the process and leaving the antitrust decision up to the US Department of Justice.
A White House spokesperson told Business Insider last week that the president “has great relationships with all parties in this potential transaction and remains neutral in this process with no preference for either bidder.”
Days later, Trump said Netflix should take Susan Rice off its board “or pay the consequences.” Rice, a White House official under Obama and Biden, had gone on a podcast and criticized Trump and the corporations that she believes “take a knee” to him. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos downplayed Trump’s complaint, saying that the company’s Warner Bros. bid is “not a political deal.”
If Netflix decides to increase its offer, WBD shareholders will be in a win-win situation.
Netflix is breaking open its piggy bank to keep Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison from crashing its Warner Bros. deal.
The streaming giant just sweetened its offer for the Warner Bros. studio and HBO by offering all-cash, matching a key feature of Paramount’s hostile bid. Warner Bros.’ board of directors has approved the all-cash bid, and the companies said they expect Warner shareholders to vote on the transaction by April.
“Our revised all-cash agreement will enable an expedited timeline to a stockholder vote and provide greater financial certainty,” Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said in a statement announcing the news.
“Today’s revised merger agreement brings us even closer to combining two of the greatest storytelling companies in the world,” David Zaslav, president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, said in a statement on Tuesday.
While Netflix isn’t raising its bid from $27.75 per share, converting $4.50 per share in stock to cash takes away a variable for Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders. Netflix shares are down 13% since the Warner Bros. deal was made public and have fallen 28% since late October.
Paramount believes its all-cash offer of $30 per share for all of WBD is superior to Netflix’s winning bid for WBD’s key assets, which include its studio, HBO, and HBO Max, but not its TV networks. Ellison has made eight bids for WBD, all of which have been rejected. Paramount is now suing WBD while fighting for spots on its board.
A key remaining point of difference between the two bids hinges on the perceived value of WBD’s networks. Paramount is looking to buy them, while Netflix is not.
If WBD’s cable channels, such as CNN, TNT, and HGTV, are valued at less than $2.25 per share, or $5.9 billion, then Paramount’s proposal appears, at first glance, to be more appealing than Netflix’s. However, WBD has said that it must knock off $1.79 per share from Paramount’s bid to account for costs it would incur by changing course, like a $2.8 billion breakup fee to Netflix. That would mean WBD’s cable networks only need to be worth $0.46 per share for Netflix’s bid to be financially superior in the board’s eyes.
Paramount has argued that the WBD cable networks it wants to buy are worth $0 per share, or only as much as the debt they’re expected to carry. Ellison and company acknowledged “the theoretical possibility” that those TV assets could be worth $0.50 per share.
Most media analysts have a rosier view of WBD’s cable business, valuing its channels anywhere from the low single digits to $3.51 per share. Even a glass-half-empty view based on the valuation of new cable company Versant would put WBD’s networks at $1.20 per share as of last week, a Business Insider analysis found.
Netflix’s updated all-cash offer helps solidify WBD’s decision to choose it, after accounting for the added costs from Paramount’s bid.
Unless WBD shareholders band against its board of directors, Paramount may face pressure to sweeten its offer by raising its bid.
The head of Paramount Skydance’s streaming product and tech is leaving the company, Business Insider has learned.
Vibol Hou told colleagues in the company’s streaming tech Slack channel that he’s leaving Paramount at the end of January.
“After nearly 12 years of exhilarating work pushing our businesses to new heights, it feels like the right time to hand the torch to the next wave of leaders while I take a much-needed pause to rest, focus on my health (including some serious marathon training), and spend more time with my family before I jump into whatever comes next,” Hou wrote in the Slack message, which was viewed by Business Insider.
Hou’s exit has been anticipated within Paramount for months.
In Hou’s Slack message, he referenced a previous memo from Dane Glasgow, Paramount’s chief product officer, that hinted at the move.
“Vibol has expressed interest in exploring other opportunities, and while he will remain in his role with an anticipated transition early next year, we will continue to explore new projects together,” Glasgow wrote in a mid-October email viewed by Business Insider.
Hou was at Paramount or its subsidiaries for over a decade, including six years at its free streamer, Pluto TV. In that span, Paramount went through several corporate changes, from a ViacomCBS merger to the Paramount Skydance merger that closed in the summer of 2025.
“What we’ve built together across Pluto TV, CBS All Access/Paramount+, and Network Streaming was never easy,” Hou wrote in the Slack message. “But we built these products from the ground up, in tough environments that didn’t necessarily believe in our vision, with limited resources and non-existent technology where we often had to build our own, and under constant pressure to deliver.”
Hou’s Slack message was received warmly, with 118 “care” emojis, 67 classic “red heart” emojis, and 43 “thank you” emojis, among other signals of support as of early Thursday afternoon.
Since Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison took over in early August, he’s made several noteworthy moves, like landing UFC rights in the US and hiring Bari Weiss to lead CBS News.
Ellison is now focused on buying Warner Bros. Discovery, which has rejected its takeover offer eight times.
Paramount did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Read Hou’s Slack message to colleagues announcing the move:
@channel Team,
As Dane shared in his note, I’ll be transitioning out of my role and leaving the company at the end of January. After nearly 12 years of exhilarating work pushing our businesses to new heights, it feels like the right time to hand the torch to the next wave of leaders while I take a much-needed pause to rest, focus on my health (including some serious marathon training), and spend more time with my family before I jump into whatever comes next.
What we’ve built together across Pluto TV, CBS All Access/Paramount+, and Network Streaming was never easy — but we built these products from the ground up, in tough environments that didn’t necessarily believe in our vision, with limited resources and non-existent technology where we often had to build our own, and under constant pressure to deliver. Yet again and again, this team showed grit, creativity, and passion. Whether you came from Pluto or another part of Streaming, the story is the same: we took on impossible problems and innovated our way through.
The culture we live — being curious about everything, feeling that hunger to solve problems, caring deeply for others, iterating constantly, and innovating in everything we do — belongs to all of you now. You should be proud of what you’ve achieved, and you should be confident that this is a team that can handle anything thrown its way.
As to the future, I have a lot of confidence in Dane and the vision and strategic pillars he’s laid out for the year ahead. They set a strong foundation for where this organization can go over the next several years, and I’m excited to see what you all do together under his leadership.
I plan to hold my last open office hours next Friday so anyone who wants to drop in, ask questions, or just say hello/goodbye has a space to do that together. In the meantime, if you’d like to stay in touch beyond my time here, please feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn.
Serving alongside you has been one of the great privileges of my life, and I’ll be proudly cheering you on as you write the next chapter together.
Boldly go, always. ❤️
Vibol
