Paramount Pitches $30 Per Share Proposal for WBD in Letter to Shareholders

Paramount Skydance is escalating the fight for Warner Bros. Discovery, launching a hostile, all-cash tender offer directly to shareholders in a bid to kill the company's prior agreement with Netflix.

• The $30-a-share pitch: In a letter to shareholders, CEO David Ellison frames the $30.00 per share proposal as a simpler and more valuable alternative to the Netflix transaction, which he characterized as having "lower value, less cash and less certainty."

• Playing the regulatory card: Ellison asserts the all-cash deal offers a faster path to completion, arguing a Netflix-WBD streaming juggernaut would control a dominant 43% market share and face a "long and bumpy ride" with global regulators. As a sign of its confidence, Paramount says it has already filed for HSR approval in the U.S.

• A murky sale process: Ellison also took direct aim at WBD's leadership, describing the negotiations as a "murky sale process" where its advisors never engaged in real-time talks. The deal has also reportedly drawn backing from sovereign wealth funds in the Middle East and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners, a detail that has attracted some political scrutiny.

Paramount is now pressuring WBD’s shareholders to tender their shares before the January 8, 2026 deadline, a direct push to force the board to walk away from the Netflix agreement. Meanwhile, Netflix isn't just focused on M&A; the streaming giant is making a bigger play to own the living room by launching a new collection of party games that use smartphones as controllers.