Paramount, owned by a Trump ally, challenges Netflix and offers €93 billion to buy Warner.

BarcelonaFollowing Netflix's bold move regarding streaming, which three days ago announced Warner Bros. Discovery was buying for 62 billion eurosParamount Skydance, now owned by a Trump ally, hasn't remained silent. The streaming platform announced, in a statement, that it is counterattacking with a superior offer of €93 billion ($108 billion). In the statement, Paramount explains that it is offering $30 in cash per share, representing a 139% premium over Warner Bros.' share price of $12.54 as of September 10, 2025. The company also specifies that it is directly addressing Warner Bros. shareholders and urging them to reject the deal with Netflix.

"The offer is strategically and financially attractive to Warner Bros. shareholders and provides a superior alternative to Netflix, which offers inferior and uncertain value and exposes WBD shareholders to a protracted multi-jurisdictional regulatory approval process with an uncertain outcome alongside a complex and volatile capital mix." The company is subtly criticizing Warner for ignoring the six proposals they've received over the past 12 weeks. Now, Paramount is directly addressing shareholders, assuring them that the proposed deal "offers superior value and a more secure and faster closing process." The transaction is expected to close within the next 12 to 18 months, once Warner completes the separation of its cable operations, which it announced a few weeks ago.

CNN is on the air

With this move, Paramount enters the battle of titans to acquire a vast catalog of series and films. Among the former is the entire library of the HBO Max platform—part of Warner and including titles from series such as Game of Thunder and The Big Bang Theory— and among the latter, classic films such as Casablanca, Citizen Kane and the saga of Harry Potter. If the Paramount deal goes through, the company could also acquire CNN. However, in the agreement presented with Netflix, CNN was excluded from the acquisition, and Warner envisioned it becoming an independent company encompassing the company's other traditional television networks. Should CNN fall into Paramount's hands, this would jeopardize the channel's journalistic independence, since Paramount is owned by Skydance, which belongs to David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison, one of Trump's closest allies. Larry Ellison ousted Elon Musk a few months ago and became... the richest person in the world thanks to his companyThe technology company Oracle. In fact, Donald Trump himself expressed skepticism this Sunday about Netflix's proposal to buy Warner, saying that "it could be a problem," thus paving the way for Paramount to win the battle. However, the US president had kind words for Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos, who visited him before announcing the company's agreement to acquire Warner.

In the last year, David Ellison has been acquiring companies and studios to grow his initial company, Skydance. Last July, he absorbed Paramount for $8 billion, after from a scrupulous scrutiny by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). With that purchase, the CBS network passed into Ellison's hands.