The bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery is over amid a flurry of $100 billion deal offers. David Ellison-owned Paramount took over Warner Bros. Acquires Discovery.
On Thursday, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that Paramount Skydance’s latest offer of $31 per share was an “excellent offer,” giving Netflix four business days to respond. Netflix later said it would not raise its $82.7 billion all-cash bid for Legacy Studios and would walk away from the deal.
“The deal we negotiated would have created shareholder value with a clear path to regulatory approval,” Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said in a statement Thursday. “However, we have always been disciplined and are refusing to match Paramount Skydance’s bid because the deal is no longer financially attractive at the price we would have to match Paramount Skydance’s latest offer.”
Under the terms of the existing agreement, Warner Bros. Discovery must pay Netflix a $2.8 billion termination fee to terminate the existing agreement. Paramount’s new proposal includes paying a breakup fee, backed by Larry Ellison, the chairman of Oracle and David Ellison’s father, the world’s sixth-richest person.
The new deal sees Paramount, which was acquired by Ellison’s Skydance Media last year with significant financial backing from his father, take over Warner Bros., including the studio, HBO, streaming services, games and entertainment divisions, and linear television networks such as CNN, TBS, TNT, Discovery and HGTV. Discovery will be acquired in its entirety.
Ellison, whose Paramount company already owns major studio, entertainment and news businesses, warned of significant job cuts. His ownership of the news network CBS also sparked controversy, and was seen as a sympathetic turn toward the Trump administration, with critical coverage of the administration either being withheld or facing heightened scrutiny by Ellison and CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, a conservative firebrand. Larry Ellison is a major donor and supporter of President Trump.
Netflix announced its intention to acquire WBD last December, giving the studio and streaming service nearly $83 billion alone. Despite several hostile takeover bids by Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery has reaffirmed to shareholders its belief that Netflix’s offer is superior to Paramount’s, which offered $108 billion for the entire company, including its linear television networks. Paramount’s latest bid of $31 per share values WBD at approximately $111 billion.
Tech Crunch Event
Boston, Massachusetts
|
June 9, 2026
According to the deal, Paramount will assume approximately $33 billion in debt held by Warner Bros. Discovery. Larry Ellison, whose net worth is $201 billion, according to Bloomberg, agreed to provide additional equity to fulfill Paramount’s bid. Paramount’s market capitalization is approximately $12 billion.
The deal is also being funded by $57.5 billion in debt commitments from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi and Apollo Global Management.
Netflix shares surged 10% in after-hours trading in New York. Paramount shares rose 4.5%.
