Paramount Global has mounted a hostile, all-cash bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, offering about $108 billion to acquire the parent of HBO, Warner Bros. Studios and CNN. The proposal more than eclipses the $83 billion deal Netflix and Warner announced last week, though that agreement covers only Warner’s studios and streaming business and would reportedly spin off CNN and other cable channels.
Oracle co‑founder Larry Ellison and his son David Ellison, who took control of Paramount this summer, have positioned the company to pursue a blockbuster combination. Paramount — home to CBS, Paramount Studios and the Paramount+ streamer — would join with Warner to create a major Hollywood competitor to Netflix and other deep-pocketed streamers such as Amazon, Apple and Disney.
The Ellisons began pressing Warner earlier this year with unsolicited offers that Warner’s CEO David Zaslav initially resisted, but which helped prompt Warner to explore strategic options. Paramount executives told investors and reporters they have made six proposals and accused Warner of “never engaging meaningfully” with them.
Netflix co‑CEO Ted Sarandos, speaking to investors after Paramount’s move, said he expected a Paramount counterbid and remained confident the Netflix agreement would close. Warner did not comment.
Paramount’s bid reflects not only a valuation premium and an offer for the whole company, but also political calculations. Larry Ellison is a Trump donor and informal adviser; David Ellison has reshaped parts of CBS News since the takeover, hiring conservative figures and naming Bari Weiss to lead the news division. Those moves, along with other personnel changes, appear aimed at reducing friction with the Trump administration, whose agencies would review any major media merger.
Still, political favor is uncertain. The Netflix-Warner announcement drew immediate pushback from some U.S. senators across party lines, and former President Trump has been publicly noncommittal. After Paramount’s bid, Trump attacked CBS News on Truth Social over a recent 60 Minutes interview, criticizing the new ownership and repeating past grievances.
Paramount and the Ellisons see a large-scale deal as a way to compete in a streaming landscape that rewards scale and rich content libraries. Warner’s assets — including HBO and Warner Bros. — would substantially expand Paramount’s content roster and distribution reach, while the Netflix agreement, if completed, would consolidate studios and streaming under the world’s largest streamer.
Editor’s note: Warner Bros. Discovery is among NPR’s financial supporters.