Catenaa, Wednesday, December 17, 2025- Warner Bros Discovery board rejected Paramount Skydance’s $108.4 billion hostile bid on Wednesday, saying it failed to provide adequate financing assurances.
In a letter to shareholders, disclosed in a regulatory filing, the board wrote that Paramount had “consistently misled” Warner Bros shareholders that its $30-per-share cash offer was fully guaranteed, or “backstopped,” by the Ellison family, led by billionaire and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison.
“It does not, and never has,” the board wrote of the guarantee of Paramount’s offer, noting that the offer posed “numerous, significant risks.”
Warner Bros’ board said it found Paramount’s offer “inferior” to the merger agreement with Netflix’s. The streaming giant’s $27.75 per share offer for Warner Bros’ film and television studios, its library, and the HBO Max streaming service is a binding agreement that requires no equity financing and has robust debt commitments, the board wrote.
Warner Bros has not yet set a date for a shareholder vote on the deal but it is expected to happen sometime in spring or early summer, its Chairman, Samuel Di Piazza, said in an interview with CNBC.
“The Warner Bros Discovery Board reinforced that Netflix’s merger agreement is superior and that our acquisition is in the best interest of stockholders,” its co-CEO Ted Sarandos said in a statement.
Warner Bros shares were down 0.5% on Wednesday, while Netflix gained over 2% and Paramount fell 4.4%.
Paramount last week took its case directly to Warner Bros shareholders, arguing it has arranged “air-tight financing” to support its bid, with $41 billion in new equity assured by the Ellison family and RedBird Capital, and $54 billion of debt commitments from Bank of America, Citi, and Apollo.
