The gloves are off in Hollywood's largest takeover fight in decades.
Paramount Skydance, backed by the billionaire Ellison family, just launched a hostile bid to snatch Warner Bros Discovery away from Netflix—offering $30 per share in a deal that values the entire entertainment giant at $108.4 billion. It's a stunning counter-move that came just days after Warner Bros declared Netflix the winner of its bidding process with an $83 billion offer.
But this isn't just about money. It's about power, politics and the future of an industry being reshaped by streaming wars. And who will stand at the middle of it all? President Donald Trump - whose views on competition could very well determine whether either deal goes through.
Welcome to the battle for Hollywood's soul.
The Twist No One Saw Coming
On Friday, it looked like Warner Bros Discovery's future had been decided. Months after opening a formal bidding process—after Paramount wouldn't stop making offers—the company announced it was selling its studio and streaming networks, including HBO, to Netflix in an approximately $83 billion including debt deal.
The plan involved spinning off other parts of Warner Bros' business, including CNN, into an independent company before completing the sale. Wall Street analysts started writing reports. Industry insiders began speculating about job cuts and content strategies. The deal seemed done.
Then came Monday.
It launched what's known as a hostile bid—going directly to Warner Bros shareholders with a $30-per-share offer worth $108.4 billion for the entire company. No spin-offs. No carve-outs. It's a straight cash deal for everything—traditional television networks included—that Netflix didn't want.
David Ellison told CNBC what he thinks about the online movie service's plan: "It's a horrible deal for Hollywood."
Why Paramount Says Its Offer Is Better
Paramount tells the Court its offer is "superior alternative" to that of Netflix on many levels:
More money upfront: The $108.4 billion valuation surpasses Netflix's $83 billion offer and brings more immediate value to shareholders.
Greater chances of regulatory approval: With President Trump already sounding warnings about Netflix's deal, Paramount believes its smaller size makes it a more palatable buyer for antitrust regulators.
No risky spin-off: Warner Brothers' plan to turn CNN and its traditional networks into a stand-alone company-according to Ellison-is setting those assets up to fail. "I think they are going to be worth a lot less than people are claiming," he told CNBC.
Better for the industry: Ellison contends that a Netflix takeover would give one firm too great a power over actors as well as other industry players, fundamentally changing the competitive dynamics of Hollywood.
The Trump Factor: Politics Meets Hollywood
Here is where things start to get interesting. President Donald Trump has already weighed in, saying "there could be a problem" with Netflix's purchase, pointing to competition concerns given the size of the companies involved.
Those words aren't casual observations; they're signals to federal regulators as to how the White House regards the deal. And Paramount has nurtured relationships with officials that could prove decisive.
The family of Larry Ellison, a Republican megadonor close to Trump, backs Paramount. David Ellison told CNBC he's had "great conversations" with Trump about the deal and thinks the president "cares about competition."
But there's an even more direct connection: Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, is among the financial partners Paramount is working with on the deal, according to paperwork submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
This is more than business; it's a politically connected power play designed to leverage Trump's skepticism about big tech dominance in media.
The Regulatory Battlefield
Any takeover of Warner Bros Discovery is likely to be scrutinised intensively by competition regulators in the US and in Europe, but the concerns are different depending on who's buying.
If Netflix wins: Regulators would likely focus on streaming dominance. Netflix already has more than 300 million subscribers worldwide—by far the biggest in the industry. Adding HBO Max (which shares more than 70% subscriber overlap with Netflix in the US, according to Raymond James analysts) plus decades of Warner Bros content would create an entertainment behemoth with unprecedented control over streaming.
If Paramount wins: The regulatory review would shift to traditional media markets—specifically the impact on advertisers and local television distributors. A combined Paramount-Warner Bros would control massive sports networks and children's programming (think Nickelodeon plus Cartoon Network), potentially giving it too much leverage over cable providers and advertising buyers.
In normal times, Netflix's size would make it the riskier regulatory bet. But these aren't normal times. With Trump signaling concerns about Netflix specifically, and Paramount cultivating political connections aggressively, the conventional wisdom about regulatory approval may not apply.
What's Really at Stake: The Future of Entertainment
Strip away the billions and the politics, and this battle is fundamentally about two competing visions for the future of entertainment.
Netflix's Vision: Consolidate content libraries, achieve total streaming dominance, and make traditional television networks irrelevant. Netflix doesn't want Warner Bros' legacy TV assets—that's why Warner Bros planned to spin them off. Netflix wants HBO, HBO Max, and the massive content library (Looney Tunes, Harry Potter, DC Comics, and countless other franchises) to ensure rivals can't use those assets to compete effectively.
Ben Barringer, head of technology research at Quilter Cheviot called the deal simply a "nice-to-have" for Netflix-defensive positioning to keep valuable content out of competitors hands rather than a transformative acquisition.
Paramount's Vision: Create a traditional media powerhouse that can compete in both streaming and linear television. By combining Paramount's brands (CBS News, Nickelodeon, Mission Impossible) with Warner Bros' assets (HBO, CNN, DC franchises), the merged company would have both the scale to compete with Netflix and the traditional TV infrastructure that still generates billions in cash flow.
"Paramount ultimately needs this deal more than Netflix," Barringer said. "Paramount remains a legacy entertainment provider that lacks the scale needed for the modern age."
The CNN Question
One of the most interesting aspects of this saga is what happens to CNN.
The Warner Bros deal with Netflix included spinning off CNN and other traditional networks into an independent company. The logic is pretty clear: Netflix doesn't want any legacy cable assets that are slowly declining. It wants streaming gold.
But Paramount's bid includes everything—meaning CNN would become part of a Paramount empire that already includes CBS News. That raises fascinating questions about media consolidation and news coverage, particularly given the Ellison family's Republican connections and Trump's well-documented hostility toward CNN.
Would a CNN owned by Paramount remain editorially independent? Would it complement, or compete, with CBS News? How would advertisers and cable providers feel about having one company controlling two major news networks?
Ellison argues that Warner Bros' spin-off plan would doom CNN and the other traditional networks to irrelevance and financial decline. "I think [its shares are] going to be worth a lot less than people are claiming," he said, suggesting that keeping them within a larger, more stable company is actually the better long-term strategy.
Wall Street's Reaction: Follow the Money
The initial market move Monday morning told the story of who has leverage:
Warner Brothers shares surged upwards by more than 6%: Shareholders love a bidding war-the higher the offer, the more money in their pocket courtesy of Paramount.
Paramount shares jumped: Investors seem to think the deal makes strategic sense, and that the Ellison family's political connections mean the bid has a fighting chance of approval.
Netflix shares fell more than 3%: Investors are factoring in heightened uncertainty that Netflix's deal will actually close—and that shelling out $83 billion for Warner Bros may not be a slam-dunk growth strategy after all.
That Netflix share price drop is particularly telling. If investors were confident Netflix would prevail, and that the acquisition would supercharge its business-as Netflix claimed on Friday-shares should have held steady or risen. Instead they fell, suggesting skepticism about both the deal's completion and its strategic value.
What Happens Next: The Story Continues
The analysts at Raymond James predicted Friday that "further twists" were foreseen in the takeover story. Less than 72 hours later, that proved quite accurate, and there's every reason to believe more surprises are coming.
Warner Bros Discovery now faces a choice: stick with Netflix's $83 billion offer or embrace Paramount's $108.4 billion hostile bid. The board has a fiduciary duty to maximize shareholder value, which makes Paramount's higher number difficult to ignore.
Yet, it's not all about prices. The board has to consider:
Regulatory approval likelihood: Which transaction is more likely to actually close?
Timeline: How long would regulatory review take for each option?
Company vision: What's best for Warner Bros' assets long-term?
Political risk: How much weight should be attached to Trump comments?
Meanwhile, Netflix could counter with a higher offer, potentially triggering a full-blown bidding war that drives Warner Bros' value even higher. Or it could walk away, having already signaled its willingness to pay $83 billion—a price that was supposed to end the conversation.
The bigger picture: streaming's consolidation era
But this battle is the most dramatic example yet of a broader trend: that of a streaming industry which is consolidating rapidly.
For years, every major entertainment company launched its own streaming service, fragmenting content across dozens of platforms and forcing consumers to subscribe to multiple services to watch everything they wanted. It was financially unsustainable for many companies and increasingly frustrating for consumers. Now the consolidation has begun. Smaller streamers are being absorbed. Content libraries are being combined.
The industry is sorting itself into a handful of dominant players with the scale and resources to compete long-term. Whether that consolidation happens with Netflix as the overwhelming dominant player or with multiple strong competitors-like a combined Paramount-Warner Bros-will shape the landscape for decades. And right now, that decision isn't being made in boardrooms or by shareholders alone. It's being made in the political arena, where Trump's views on media competition could prove decisive. Hollywood Holds Its Breath As Monday trading continued, one thing became clear: the battle for Warner Bros Discovery is far from over. Paramount's hostile bid has turned what seemed like a done deal into a messy, multi-billion-dollar fight that could drag on for months.
For Warner Bros shareholders, it's a bidding war bonanza. For industry workers worried about layoffs and consolidation, it's a source of anxiety. For consumers wondering about the future of HBO, CNN, and countless other properties, it's a moment of profound uncertainty. It's an existential question for Hollywood itself: is the future for the streaming giants, like Netflix, that see traditional television as dead weight - or can legacy players like Paramount use those traditional assets as a foundation for competing in this new era? David Ellison clearly believes Paramount represents Hollywood's best hope against Netflix domination. "It's a horrible deal for Hollywood," he said of the Netflix takeover. In its turn, Netflix said on Friday that it was confident that the deal would close and regulators would approve
. But with Paramount now offering $25 billion more, with Trump signaling concerns, and with Wall Street expecting more twists, the only certainty is that Hollywood's biggest power play is just getting started. The battle for Warner Bros Discovery will determine who controls not just billions in assets, but the future of entertainment itself. And in 2025, that battle is as much about politics as it is about business.
Follow ZOSIO for breaking updates on the Paramount-Netflix bidding war and analysis of what it means for the future of streaming.