US EditionWhat is a hostile takeover? What to know about Paramount's bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery
Paramount offers $30 per share, a 139% premium, to outbid Netflix and gain control of Warner Bros. Discovery by appealing directly to shareholders.
- Dec. 8, 2025 — Paramount launched a hostile $30 bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, valuing the company at $44 billion in a tender offer, according to Paramount.
- When management resists, bidders can bypass company leadership and seek support directly from shareholders using tender offers to buy shares at premium or proxy votes to install a new board.
- Last week, Netflix appeared to win the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery at $27.75 per share, excluding cable channels, and counted 301 million global subscribers as of late 2024.
- Shareholders must decide as Paramount plans to bypass management to win support, while Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders could face defenses like a `poison pill` that dilutes hostile bids.
- Historical examples show Elon Musk prevailed in a hostile bid for Twitter in 2022 amid legal delays, while deals like Kraft-Cadbury and Comcast-AT&T's broadband unit reflect varied takeover outcomes.
12 Articles
12 Articles
Jared Kushner is backing a ‘hostile takeover’ of US infrastructure: analysis
Salon reporter Sophia Tesfaye says “the speed and scale of Jared Kushner’s re-emergence can’t be overstated,” and neither can his corruption. “In the first year of Donald Trump’s second presidency, his son-in-law is casually consolidating economic and political power with staggering speed,” said Tesfaye. “Kushner has positioned himself at the center of the biggest media merger in years and at the fulcrum of White House foreign policy, all while …
Jared Kushner is backing a 'hostile takeover' of US infrastructure: analysis
Salon reporter Sophia Tesfaye says “the speed and scale of Jared Kushner’s re-emergence can’t be overstated,” and neither can his corruption.“In the first year of Donald Trump’s second presidency, his son-in-law is casually consolidating economic and political power with staggering speed,” said Tesfaye. “Kushner has positioned himself at the center of the biggest media merger in years and at the fulcrum of White House foreign policy, all while t…
The financial buffer of Saudi Arabia's state funds, Qatar and Abu Dhabi to the purchase offer launched by Paramount not only leaves a trail of influence trafficking; also a footprint of the conversion of these instruments of investment into weapons of foreign geopoliticsTrump orders to create a sovereign fund that supports the geostrategic interests of the US Welcome to the era of militarized capital, in which once immaculate sovereign funds, wi…
David Zaslav Could Become a Billionaire if Warner Bros. Sells to Either Netflix or Paramount
David Zaslav, president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, would be out of a job if a deal is completed with Netflix or Paramount Skydance. Softening the blow: Zaslav stands to get hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and/or stock if WBD completes a sale to either company, which would lift him to billionaire status. Zaslav’s current stock holdings in Warner Bros. Discovery, along with future grants he is entitled to, would be worth around $…
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