Paramount-Skydance Increases Warner Bros. Discovery Offer
Paramount-Skydance has reportedly increased its offer for Warner Bros. Discovery assets to approximately $32 per share. The move signals ongoing M&A activity in the media sector as companies compete for valuable content libraries and streaming platforms in a consolidating industry.
- The previous offer from Paramount-Skydance was an all-cash bid of $30 per share, valuing Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) at approximately $108.4 billion. - This acquisition attempt is a hostile takeover, with Paramount-Skydance appealing directly to WBD shareholders after an initial bid was rejected by the board. - A competing offer exists from Netflix, which has an agreement to acquire WBD's studio and streaming assets for $27.75 per share. If WBD accepts the Paramount-Skydance offer, it would owe Netflix a $2.8 billion breakup fee, which Paramount-Skydance has agreed to cover. - The entity making the offer, Paramount-Skydance, was formed from the merger of Skydance Media and Paramount Global, a deal that closed in August 2025. David Ellison, son of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, is the CEO of the combined company. - To make its new offer more attractive, Paramount-Skydance included a "ticking fee," which would pay WBD shareholders approximately $650 million in cash each quarter if the deal is not finalized by the end of the year. - Warner Bros. Discovery was itself formed by a major merger in 2022 between AT&T's WarnerMedia and Discovery, Inc. - As of late February 2026, Warner Bros. Discovery's market capitalization was approximately $71.7 billion, with its stock trading in a 52-week range of $7.52 to $30.00 per share. - This bidding war is part of a larger trend of consolidation within the media industry, as traditional media companies seek to gain scale to compete with streaming giants like Netflix and the expansive content library of Disney, which acquired 21st Century Fox for $71 billion in 2019.
