Warner Bros rejects Paramount takeover once more and tells shareholders to stay with Netflix bid – One America Information Community

[ad_1] By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS and MICHELLE CHAPMANUpdated 7:37 AM PST, January 7, 2026

<img decoding="async" width="800" height="533" src="https://www.oann.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/paramount.webp" alt="The Paramount Pictures water tower is seen in Los Angeles, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, with the Hollywood sign in the distance. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)" class="wp-image-752127" srcset="https://www.oann.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/paramount.webp 800w, https://www.oann.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/paramount-400x267.webp 400w, https://www.oann.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/paramount-768x512.webp 768w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"/> The Paramount Photos water tower is seen in Los Angeles, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, with the Hollywood signal within the distance. (AP Picture/Jae C. Hong)

NEW YORK (AP) — Warner Bros. once more rejected a takeover bid from Paramount and informed shareholders Wednesday to stay with a rival supply from Netflix.

Warner’s management has repeatedly rebuffed Skydance-owned Paramount’s overtures — and urged shareholders simply weeks in the past to again its the sale of its streaming and studio enterprise to Netflix for $72 billion. Paramount, in the meantime, has made efforts to sweeten its $77.9 billion hostile supply for all the firm.

Warner Bros. Discovery mentioned Wednesday that its board decided Paramount’s supply will not be in the most effective pursuits of the corporate or its shareholders. It once more really helpful shareholders assist the Netflix deal.

“Paramount’s supply continues to offer inadequate worth, together with phrases equivalent to a rare quantity of debt financing that create dangers to shut and lack of protections for our shareholders if a transaction will not be accomplished,” Warner Bros. Discovery Chair Samuel Di Piazza Jr. mentioned in an announcement. In distinction, he added, the corporate’s settlement with Netflix “will supply superior worth at better ranges of certainty.”

Paramount didn't instantly reply to a request for remark. The corporate’s hostile bid remains to be on the desk. Warner shareholders at the moment have till Jan. 21 to “tender” their shares.

Late final month, Paramount introduced an “irrevocable private assure” from Oracle founder Larry Ellison — who's the daddy of Paramount CEO David Ellison — to again $40.4 billion in fairness financing for the corporate’s supply. Paramount additionally elevated its promised payout to shareholders to $5.8 billion if the deal is blocked by regulators, matching Netflix’s breakup charge.

In its Wednesday letter to shareholders, Warner expressed considerations a couple of potential take care of Paramount. Warner mentioned it primarily considers the supply a leveraged buyout, which incorporates a whole lot of debt, and in addition pointed to working restrictions that it mentioned have been imposed by Paramount’s supply and will “hamper WBD’s means to carry out” all through a transaction.

The battle for Warner and the worth of every supply grows sophisticated as a result of Netflix and Paramount need various things. Netflix’s proposed acquisition contains solely Warner’s studio and streaming enterprise, together with its legacy TV and film manufacturing arms and platforms like HBO Max. However Paramount desires all the firm — which, past studio and streaming, contains networks like CNN and Discovery.

If Netflix is profitable, Warner’s information and cable operations can be spun off into their very own firm, below a previously-announced separation.

A merger with both firm might take over a 12 months to shut — and can appeal to great antitrust scrutiny alongside the best way. On account of its dimension and potential affect, it'll virtually definitely set off a evaluation by the U.S. Justice Division, which might sue to dam the transaction or request modifications. Different nations and regulators abroad may problem the merger. And politics are anticipated to return into play below President Donald Trump, who has made unprecedented options about his private involvement on whether or not a deal will undergo.

Commerce teams throughout the leisure business have continued to sound the alarm about each offers.

In an announcement addressed to a Congressional antitrust subcommittee on Wednesday, Cinema United — which represents greater than 60,000 film screens worldwide — reiterated it was “deeply involved” that Netflix’s acquisition might hurt each moviegoers and individuals who work in theaters, pointing to the streaming large’s previous reliance on its on-line platform. The group mentioned its considerations have been “no much less severe” for Paramount’s bid — warning of penalties of additional consolidation total, which it mentioned might lead to job losses and fewer range in filmmaking.

WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPSGrantham-Philips is a enterprise reporter who covers trending information for The Related Press. She is predicated in New York.