Paramount launches hostile bid for Warner Bros

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

I dont know the political angle. But if the DVDs and Blurays still keeping rolling under Paramount for WB Archives, I want Paramount to get it. It's super unlikely that Netflix will let the WB Archive live with physical media.

I mean, the way things are going, it's unlikely in both the cases. But I would get more time to collect everything I want by then with Paramount. Also, under Paramount WB Archive would be in the spotlight far more than under Netflix.

The most concerning aspect for me is the obvious and conspicuously-timed consolidation of these companies under David Ellison. Within the past few months he's taken control of Paramount, CBS, The Free Press, and now he's working on Warner Bros.

From everything I've seen he's basically an ideologue, and has already re-structured CBS to align with his vision.

Just something that seems very out in the open yet kind of pushed off to the side.

I just realized that the netflix ceo is a big-time democratic party donor, and that paramount is supposedly being supported by larry ellison (big-time republican/trump donor) and saudis? I'm sensing a strong political/influence angle here by the billionaires.

Sounds like Paramount bosses are bidding in anger.

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. Jared Kushner is involved in the Paramount bid so you know they're greasing the right wheels.

> [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"

I feel like at some level, it will be much easier to just pir.... I mean... train LLMs based on their content. Yeah. LLM training. That's acceptable. So it really doesn't matter who wins, we'll just perform LLM training.

All I can say is welcome back to torrenting. This perpetual "same shit deal for consumers, different corporation" problem doesn't end until copyright kicks the media into public domain. Until then, you can play their content reindeer games[1] or you can download a copy of Reindeer Games[2] and watch it without worrying about ownership foofaraw.

[1] https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/reindeer-games

[2] predb.me

Reading the comments -- it is amazing how quick it takes to from allegedly a democracy governed by a rule of law to a corrupt oligarchy. I personally understand the reasons, but it's a bit "funny" given all the grand-standing before about the founding fathers, checks and balances etc.

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

A plague on both your houses.

The US is starting to resemble pre-war Ukraine, with industrial oligarchs owning their own media empires and openly buying elections/influence.

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...

The success of a Netflix>WBD acquisition would consolidate a third of US streaming markets under one roof, which should receive anti-trust scrutiny. Despite this, there is still a strong appearance of conflict of interest in Trump’s public remarks regarding denying Netflix acquisition the necessary regulatory approval, in conjunction with his son-in-law Jared Kushner being one of the financial backers for Paramount’s cash bid.

(1)https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/08/trump-netflix-wbd-paramount.... (2)https://www.techradar.com/streaming/netflix/trump-says-the-b...

https://archive.is/d71qC

No matter who wins, we lose.

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.

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.

I must be thte only one who like Paramount+

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

Larry Ellison is my named enemy

[dead]

I brought popcorn, who are we rooting for?