Warner Bros. Discovery's recent agreement for sale to Netflix just got a U-turn with a massive, yet hostile, bid by another top actor – Paramount – which on Monday made Warner shareholders a higher offer and touched off what is likely to be a lengthy fight in the latest episode of media industry consolidation.
The bid comes after Warner last week agreed to be bought by Netflix for $72 billion.
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 U.S. President Donald Trump has already weighed in on.
Here's what to know about the three players and the bids:
Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has been seeking offers for the company 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 worth about $74.4 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 the previously announced separation of its cable operations.
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.
Another wild card could be President Trump. He already weighed in on Sunday, saying the deal struck by Netflix to buy Warner "could be a problem" because of the size of the combined market share.
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.
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 less of an 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.
As the streaming landscape has 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."
