While Netflix informs its customers, including Romania, of the acquisition of HBO, Paramount Skydance launches a hostile takeover bid of $108 billion

Media group Paramount Skydance on Monday launched a hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), worth $108.4 billion, Reuters and AP report, according to Agerpres. The announcement comes after US streaming giant Netflix announced on Friday that it had reached an agreement to acquire Warner Bros Discovery film and television studios, as well as the prestigious HBO Max streaming division, for $72 billion.

Paramount said on Monday it had approached Warner Bros shareholders directly with a cash offer of $30 per title for the entire company, including its Global Networks division, and asked them to reject the Netflix deal.

Paramount criticized Netflix's offer, saying it “exposes WBD shareholders to a lengthy regulatory waiting process and the outcome is uncertain.”

Paramount Skydance is the media group formed by the merger of David Ellison's media company Skydance with legendary film studio Paramount following a transaction announced last year. Skydance “swallowed” the film studio, one of the oldest in Hollywood, with David Ellison becoming the CEO of the new company.

At the opening of Monday's session on the New York Stock Exchange, shares of Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount Skydance were up between 5% and 6%, while Netflix fell.

How Warner Bros Discovery ended up in the middle of a bidding war

Last Friday's decision by Warner Bros Discovery's Board of Directors to accept Netflix's offer came after a bidding war that lasted several weeks. Warner Bros Discovery is the wider media conglomerate that owns Warner Bros studios, HBO television and the HBO streaming platform, plus other broadcasters such as CNN and Eurosport – which were not included in the Netflix deal.

Warner Bros Discovery was thrown into chaos in October when David Ellison made an unsolicited bid for the entire WBD company, not just its film and television division, like Netflix and Comcast, another US media and entertainment giant.

Warner Bros Discovery has decided to accept Netflix's offer after months of speculation and anxiety in the wider US entertainment and media sector over its potential sale to Skydance Paramount. The concerns are largely related to David Ellison's father's close ties to President Donald Trump and his administration. Ellison Sr. was one of the Silicon Valley executives who stood by Trump when he announced a massive $500 billion investment in AI infrastructure shortly after taking his second term as president.

With pressure from the Trump administration to fire TV anchors and threats to revoke the licenses of some stations, major TV executives have been concerned that a purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery by David Ellison's company would give the White House leverage to influence media decisions.

Trump says Netflix's plan to buy Warner Bros 'could be a problem'

US President Donald Trump on Sunday expressed his doubts about Netflix's acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, pointing out that the video streaming giant already had “a very large market share” and adding that “that could be a problem”.

“I will be involved in the decision of the regulators” about this purchase, the US president said as he arrived for an awards ceremony at the Kennedy Center, a large auditorium in Washington.

Trump did not say whether he favored approving the deal, but pointed to a potential concentration of market power in the entertainment industry. “That will be the work of some economists. But it is a large market share. There is no doubt that it could be a problem,” he said.

Any transaction of this magnitude needs to get the green light from the antitrust authorities.

The deal agreed between Netflix and Warner Bros Discovery also includes Warner Bros Discovery's TV networks CNN, Euronews and TNT, which will be separated into a separate entity to be listed on the stock exchange after the demerger.

Analysts were of the view that the fact that Warner Bros Discovery's TV networks such as CNN were not ultimately included in the sale agreement was likely to raise some of the potential objections of US regulators.