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What to know about bidding war between Netflix and Paramount for Warner Bros.

NEW YORK (AP) — Warner Bros. is telling shareholders of the company that it believes a $72 billion buyout offer from Netflix is superior, and to reject a hostile takeover bid from Paramount Skydance.

Paramount went hostile with its bid last week, asking shareholders to reject the deal with Netflix favored by the board of Warner Bros.

Paramount is offering $30 per Warner share, or $77.9 billion, to Netflix’s $27.75 per share.

A Warner Bros. merger with either company would alter the landscape in Hollywood and will face intense scrutiny from U.S. regulators as it would impact movie making, consumer streaming platforms and, in Paramount’s case, a major source of news for millions of people.

The competing offers set the stage for combining some of the most beloved entertainment properties. Netflix’s vast library includes “Stranger Things” and “Squid Game,” while the much smaller Paramount owns its Hollywood studio and major TV networks like CBS and MTV. Both covet Warner, which owns Warner Bros. Pictures, HBO and the Harry Potter franchise.

“Whichever media company, if any, ultimately secures (Warner), controls the calculus of the streaming wars and so much more,” said Mike Proulx, vice president and research director at research firm Forrester.

Both offers will face regulatory scrutiny, an issue President Donald Trump has already weighed in on.

Here’s what to know about the three players and what the bids mean for the entertainment industry.

A look at the offers

CEO David Zaslav has been seeking offers for Warner Bros. Discovery since at least October, when he said the company might be open to selling all or parts of its business.

Paramount said Monday it had submitted six proposals to Warner over a 12 week period before its offer was rejected in favor of Netflix.

So Paramount decided to go straight to Warner shareholders with a bid it says is worth about $79.9 billion, or $30 per share in cash. Paramount, unlike Netflix, is also offering to buy the cable assets of Warner, and asking shareholders of the company to reject the Netflix bid.

Paramount CEO Larry Ellison said the offer is worth about $18 billion more in cash than the competing cash-and-stock bid from Netflix.

The Paramount deal includes help from investors such as Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and funds controlled by the governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, according to a regulatory filing.

Netflix is offering a combination of cash and stock valued at $27.75 per Warner share. Its offer values Warner at $72 billion, excluding debt, but it is not bidding on Warner-owned networks such as CNN and Discovery.

Before Paramount’s bid, the Netflix deal was expected to close in the next 12 to 18 months, after Warner completes its previously announced separation of its cable operations.

Competing bids makes an eventual deal more likely

Matthew Dolgin, senior equity analyst at research firm Morningstar, said there are still many unknowns, including whether Netflix will now sweeten its bid.

But, he said, a competing offer makes it more likely that Warner will eventually be acquired.

“With Paramount now also being involved formally with an offer to shareholders, it’s even more likely to us that Warner gets acquired, because it’s no longer a single decision that may or may not hinge on regulatory approval,” he said.

Shareholders have until Jan. 8, 2026, to vote on Paramount’s tender offer.

Donald Trump weighed in earlier

Another wild card could be President Trump. He already weighed in on the deal, saying that the Netflix offer to buy Warner “could be a problem” because of the size of the potential size of the audience.

The Republican president said he will be involved in the decision about whether the federal government should approve the deal.

Paramount’s CEO is the son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, an ally of Trump. Federal regulators under Trump approved Paramount’s $8 billion merger with Skydance in July.

Regulatory scrutiny awaits either deal

On the Netflix offer, state or federal regulators could be most concerned about the massive size of a combined Netflix and Warner subscription service, said Morningstar’s Dolgin. Netflix is already the world’s largest streaming service.

That’s less of a concern with the Paramount deal, because its streaming service is smaller and has as smaller international footprint than Netflix. But regulators may raise red flags over the combination of the Paramount and Warner film and television studios, because relatively few of those remain, Dolgin said.

A pattern of media acquisitions

As streaming platforms have matured, more media companies are seeking growth through acquisitions.

Warner Bros. Discovery itself was created in 2022 when U.S. telecom giant AT&T Inc. spun off and then combined its WarnerMedia operations with Discovery Inc.

In 2021, Amazon said it would buy MGM, the movie and TV studio behind James Bond, “Legally Blonde” and “Shark Tank.” Disney bought Fox’s entertainment service in 2019.

“Technology always faces this pattern of startups, lots of different players, legacy companies getting in on the action, and then ultimately lots of consolidation,” said Forrester’s Proulx. “And this is the state that we’re in right now in the streaming wars saga, and in 2026 we’ll see continued consolidation.”

Grandfather recovering from surgery after bison attack at Yellowstone sent him flying

By WTOP Staff
(CNN) — What started as a yearly trip for a grandfather and his grandson turned into a visit to a Montana hospital after a bison attack at Yellowstone National Park.Carl McDaniel, 65, was hospitalized with a broken femur after a bison charged and tossed him into the air Friday evening at the park’s Bridge Bay Campground, according to McDaniel and the National Park Service.He was visiting the park with his 13-year-old grandson when they decided to take a walk after dinner.Along the way, they encountered a large bison that appeared to be rolling around in the dust and was not bothering anyone, McDaniel told CNN.“We were about a hundred yards away,” McDaniel said. “He was not aggressive; he was not having problems and we took some pictures and decided to walk on.”McDaniel and his grandson snapped a quick photo and continued with their walk, video of the encounter shows. At the same time, a truck drove by, and the driver laid on his horn in what appeared to be an attempt to get the bison to move, McDaniel said. There is no audio on the video.The bison then appeared to become agitated and began running toward the pair.“There was little time to decide what to do. At that point, he was within 100 yards; he could be to us in seconds, so I told my grandson to run in one direction and I went the other to try and draw him away,” McDaniel said.The animal then pushed McDaniel with the top of its head, sending him flying into the air before he hit the ground, the grandfather said.“When I was on the ground immobile, unable to move, he was right on top of me. He could have stomped on me, he could have gored me, he could have done almost anything to take my life, and he did not do so,” McDaniel said.After McDaniel hit the ground, photographer Mike MacLeod, who captured the encounter on video, had to step in, he told Cowboy State Daily.“I was really afraid he was going to gore the guy on the ground, so I stopped videotaping and ran at the bison, yelled loud, and was trying to be as big and intimidating as possible,” MacLeod said.After the bison took off, people rushed over to McDaniel, who was in a lot of pain, MacLeod told Cowboy State Daily. Yellowstone EMS arrived soon after, he said.“Park emergency medical personnel responded and transported him to a nearby hospital,” the National Park Service said in confirming the incident in a statement to CNN.This is the second bison attack at Yellowstone this year. A 12-year-old was injured near Mud Volcano on June 26, according to the agency.After Friday’s attack, “all the people that were there were amazing; they were all positive, they were trying to help as best they could,” McDaniel said. A nurse started tending to his leg, while another bystander held his head.He was then transferred to a hospital in Bozeman, a two-hour journey during which he was in intense pain. He said he was grateful for the paramedic who helped him along the way.McDaniel broke his femur, the body’s strongest bone, in four places near his hip and suffered several bruises. He had surgery Sunday and could stand by Monday.“I will be doing physical therapy for the next few days to get to walk, but it was not as catastrophic as it could have been,” McDaniel said.The National Park Service advises visitors to stay at least 25 yards away from bison at all times and to never approach the animals. “If the bison follows you, spray bear spray as you are moving away, and seek cover behind nearby trees or cars,” the agency said.Correction: An earlier version of this story understated how far visitors should stay away from bison. The National Park Service advises visitors to stay at least 25 yards from them.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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