Paramount launches hostile bid for Warner Bros

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/08/paramount-skydance-hostile-bid-wbd-netflix.html

66•gniting•1h ago

Comments

magicalhippo•1h ago

I brought popcorn, who are we rooting for?

Larrikin•1h ago

The best outcome would be for all of the bids to fail, all the streaming services would bleed money due to people sick of the siloing, and for there to be multiple streaming services competing on experience because they all have access to the same catalog.

The second best outcome would be the cartoon villain Larry not getting what he wants.

nubinetwork•1h ago

I honestly don't think cbs paramount would be any better, if anything, wb content would be further paywalled and tiered off

Spivak•38m ago

Which is why the model that would actually be good for consumers and the model that absolutely no content producer wants which is splitting content creation from distribution isn't going to happen. Let a bunch of companies compete over being the best streaming platform and then let those companies all compete for licensing deals for content.

I think a big copyright holders in a strange way actually don't want a repeat of cable. They want all content to be exclusive by default to their own streaming service.

aomix•51m ago

I want Netflix to lose. After living with their binge release schedule for however long now I think we're all worse off for it. So I want less of the industry to use it.

figmert•42m ago

You are not forced to buy their product, or to buy into their schedule.

almosthere•13m ago

Once Netflix buys all of these companies, you won't ever be able to watch a WB movie without a $25 netflix sub per month. (and yeah, when they are done buying all the competition that's what the monthly will be.

Jtsummers•9m ago

> Once Netflix buys all of these companies, you won't ever be able to watch a WB movie without a $25 netflix sub per month. (and yeah, when they are done buying all the competition that's what the monthly will be.

That's kind of a silly argument. "People are better off paying $100+/month for 4+ streaming services than $25/month for one that has everything."

If your argument were that you'd have to pay more than the current combined cost, it'd be a better argument against mergers. Arguing against something because it's a better deal is just strange.

teeray•5m ago

[delayed]

whateveracct•39m ago

definitely not Ellison Jr lol

kgwxd•27m ago

I'm never paying any of them, anything, ever again, but I'm sure we'll all get a little fucked somehow. I do hope it triggers more in-fighting amongst the scum of the earth.

mistercheph•1h ago

https://archive.is/d71qC

walthamstow•1h ago

> [Paramount say Netflix deal] would lead to “a challenging regulatory approval process.”

"Only we have sufficiently greased the current government to get this deal done"

JumpCrisscross•30m ago

They’re both at least trying to play [1].

The wild move for Ellison would be to bid for one of Trump’s crypto projects if the shareholder vote looks like it could fail.

[1] https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/netflixs-sarandos-w...

michaelbuckbee•22m ago

(not a joke) I wonder to what extent the ability to produce a Rush Hour 4 will effect the deal.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/25/trump-pushed-paramount-reviv...

miohtama•18m ago

Trump dislikes Paramount, thought?

https://deadline.com/2025/12/trump-paramount-60-minutes-davi...

jm4•12m ago

He did until they paid him off, fired people he doesn't like and his buddy bought it.

josefritzishere•57m ago

For a large enough "donation" the current administration will approve any merger.

grandpoobah•3m ago

Not even large. Trump is cheap. https://www.yahoo.com/news/opinion-makers-turbotax-gave-trum...

indigodaddy•54m ago

Does WB have to pay the breakup fee to Netflix if a Paramount hostile takeover succeeds?

ZeroCool2u•38m ago

Yeah, the reverse breakup fee is ~2.6B I believe, but the Paramount takeover doesn't have to succeed for that fee to kick in. WB just has to back out.

mcoliver•35m ago

Warner breakup fee is different. 2.8 billion.

JumpCrisscross•33m ago

It looks like it. $2.8bn by Warner Brothers to Netflix [1].

If the vote looks close, Paramount would be expected to raise their bid to cover that cost.

[1] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1065280/000119312525... 8.3(a)

embedding-shape•11m ago

Isn't this submission about Warner Bros Discover, which is a different entity? Seems to be about TV, not movies. But maybe I misunderstand, I did spend a whole of 20 seconds to skim the article...

unstatusthequo•48m ago

I can’t even use Paramount+ at home. Have network wide ad and tracking filters on (simple NextDNS presets, nothing crazy), and while others work, Paramount+ doesn’t. Makes me wonder what they are doing to get blocked. Kind of wish neither were getting WB.

zamadatix•46m ago

Most likely as simple as "they use the same servers for content and ads/tracking so you can't block just one part as easily".

ssimpson•41m ago

I've had the same issue and go so far as to remove the streaming stuff from my Pihole to make sure it wasn't a DNS filtering issue. Paramount+ app still is sketchy as hell sometimes. Usually won't work on my AppleTV, but works on phones and stuff.

JumpCrisscross•46m ago

Paramount bids $30 all cash for all of Warner Brothers Discovery. Netflix bids $27.75 “for Warner’s studio and HBO Max streaming business” only [1]. (“$23.25 in cash and $4.50 in shares” [2].)

The latter leaves behind “sports and news television brands around the world including CNN, TNT Sports in the U.S., and Discovery, top free-to-air channels across Europe, and digital products such as the profitable Discovery+ streaming service and Bleacher Report (B/R)” [3]. (Paramount is effectively bidding $5.9bn for these assets.)

Note that Zaslav, Warner’s CEO, is a prominent donor to Democrats [4], as is Reed Hastings, Netflix’s co-founder [5]. (Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co-CEO with Greg Peters, is mixed, leaning Dem [6]. No clue on the latter.) Ellison is a staunch Trump ally. The partisan tinge will be difficult to ignore.

[1] https://www.wsj.com/business/media/paramount-makes-hostile-t...

[2] https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-to-acquire-warner-...

[3] https://www.wbd.com/news/warner-bros-discovery-separate-two-...

[4] https://www.opensecrets.org/donor-lookup/results?name=david+...

[5] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/03/us/politics/reed-hastings...

[6] https://www.opensecrets.org/donor-lookup/results?name=Ted+Sa...

CSMastermind•38m ago

I must be thte only one who like Paramount+

Honestly would rather have the Warner Bros content over there than on Netflix.

coldpie•34m ago

Eh, I liked it, but canceled my service after they made a bribe to the current president to approve one of their acquisitions. I like Star Trek plenty, but it's not worth supporting that kind of business.

noahbp•32m ago

The Paramount+ user interface on my Samsung TV is horrendous.

It frequently crashes after displaying ads, forcing me to re-open the app and watch ads again.

When watching ads does succeed (all 3 minutes of them…) and playback of my show begins, it shows the enormous pause button, the giant fade-to-black bars at the top and bottom of the screen, and covers up the subtitles, as though I had pressed ‘Play’.

And trying to pause requires you to press the pause button TWICE.

I tried to play a series, but instead of starting from the last-played episode + 1, it always plays the most recent episode since it’s a rewatch. This happened every time until I got caught up.

So I strongly disagree. If only to be able to watch all of this content without all of frustrating design flaws.

EDIT: They also end each episode with 2-3 minutes of ads. So you had to exit the show, then re-enter to not get hit with two ad breaks in a row.

mingus88•27m ago

IMO no 3rd party app is worth using on those devices.

My parents pay over $300/mo for an Xfinity bundle. It includes everything (phone, internet, and all streaming services on one bill)

The paramount+ app on the Xfinity box took TEN MINUTES to load a show. This is after crashing three times back to the logo.

Xfinity warns that it’s a 3P app and they aren’t responsible for it but it should be criminal to take the money and subject elderly people to this under spec hardware. Even live sports will pause and stutter.

jimbokun•16m ago

It has really strange bugs like with an hour left of a Champions League match it thought it had reached the end credits of the show and tried to automatically start showing something else. Was confusing figuring out how to tell it I wanted to really watch the "end credits" which was the last hour of the soccer contest.

linhns•17m ago

Sounds like Paramount bosses are bidding in anger.

observationist•9m ago

They tilt like everyone else - maybe the chaos and mayhem behind the last few years of this industry mean the old guard is finally failing, and we'll see meaningful copyright reform and sanity in our lifetime.

notepad0x90•17m ago

I thought I read somewhere paramount is in survival mode, avoiding risky projects and focusing on reliable projects. This is surprising indeed.

Amazon took MGM, maybe netflix can take over paramount after it takes over warner bros?

I know people have strong opinions on this, but both from studios like warner and netflix, their quality has been subpar, i don't think this will change much in terms of risk taking. There used to be lots of more flops but lots of really good blockbusters as well. Now there are a lot less of both, it is profitable but enshittified.

afavour•9m ago

I'm curious how often tactics like this work. It is essentially asking the Warner stockholders to act against the wishes of their elected board.

It seems the main thrust of the pitch is "we're friends with Trump therefore more likely to win approval" which is so deeply gross but also probably persuasive to many.

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Comments

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