Warner Bros deal battle: Company tells shareholders to reject Paramount Skydance bid; Netflix deal preferred

Warner Bros has asked its shareholders to reject a hostile takeover bid from Paramount Skydance, saying a rival offer from Netflix would be better for customers and aligns with the board’s fiduciary responsibilities, AP reported.

In a letter to investors issued on Wednesday, Warner Bros said its board had reviewed Paramount Skydance’s “unsolicited tender offer” with the same scrutiny applied to earlier proposals. “The Board’s evaluation followed a thorough and consistent process and is grounded in its fiduciary duties,” the company said.




Paramount went hostile last week after Warner Bros agreed to a deal with Netflix on December 5, urging shareholders to back its offer instead. Paramount has offered $30 per Warner share, higher than Netflix’s $27.75 bid.

While the board has made clear that Paramount’s proposal is not its preferred option, shareholders still have the choice of tendering their shares to Paramount for the entire company, including cable networks such as CNN and Discovery.

A key difference between the two bids is scope. Netflix’s offer does not include Warner Bros’ cable operations and would be completed only after the company carries out its previously announced separation of those assets. Paramount’s bid, by contrast, seeks to acquire Warner’s cable networks and news businesses.

Paramount has said it made six separate offers that were rejected by Warner’s leadership before taking its proposal directly to shareholders. Both bids now face intense regulatory scrutiny, given the scale of the companies involved and the potential impact on the entertainment and media industry, AP reported.

Critics of the Netflix deal argue that combining Netflix with Warner’s HBO Max could create excessive market dominance in streaming. Netflix co-CEOs Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos rejected that view in a filing through Warner Bros, saying, “Our stance then and now is the same—we see this as a win for the entertainment industry, not the end of it.”

Concerns have also been raised about how either deal could affect film and television production, as well as editorial control. Paramount’s bid would bring CBS and CNN under one corporate umbrella, intensifying scrutiny over media consolidation and newsroom independence.

The political dimension has added further uncertainty. US President Donald Trump has indicated that regulatory approval could be influenced by politics and has publicly questioned Netflix’s bid, saying it “could be a problem” because of potential market concentration. Trump has also continued to criticise Paramount over editorial decisions at CBS’ “60 Minutes”.

Paramount Skydance did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AP.