Warner Bros. Plans to Reject Paramount Offer Next Week

Dec 30, 2025

Guest

Melissa Brown

Guest

Lucas Shaw, managing editor at Bloomberg News, dives into Warner Bros.' likely rejection of Paramount's takeover bid, highlighting financing concerns and the value of Netflix's competing offer. Ross Mayfield discusses the Fed's minutes and market outlook for 2026, emphasizing labor market risks over inflation. Ed Price examines global hotspots, including Taiwan tensions, while Melissa Brown reviews strong market performance outside the U.S. and potential rotations in equities, revealing intriguing dynamics in both media and investment landscapes.

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INSIGHT

Board Prefers Higher Valuation

Warner Bros. is likely to reject Paramount's amended bid because it still values Netflix's offer higher.
Warner Bros. is waiting to see if Paramount increases price rather than just tweak financing assurances.

ADVICE

Document Rejections To Deter Lawsuits

Create a clear paper trail when rejecting a hostile or contested bid to defend against lawsuits.
Enumerate substantive concerns to force rivals to address multiple issues, not just price.

INSIGHT

Value Of Cable Networks Matters

Warner Bros. values its cable networks and believes they raise total deal value above Paramount's offer.
The company sees Netflix as a more certain, operationally strong buyer compared with Paramount.

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Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. plans to once again reject a takeover bid from Paramount Skydance Corp. after the rival media company amended the terms of its offer, according to people familiar with the company’s thinking.

The Warner Bros. board hasn’t made a final determination, but will meet next week, said the people, who asked to not be identified discussing internal deliberations. Among the board’s concerns, Paramount has yet to increase its offer, which Warner Bros. earlier rejected as inferior to one from Netflix Inc. Paramount, the owner of its namesake studio and MTV, has been waging a public campaign to gather support for its proposal to buy Warner Bros., which owns HBO and CNN. Paramount went public with a $30-a-share cash bid on Dec. 8, three days after Warner Bros. accepted the deal with Netflix, which is only buying Warner Bros.’ studio and streaming businesses. Paramount has since amended its offer twice, most recently by including an assurance from billionaire Larry Ellison that he would personally guarantee $40.4 billion in equity financing and other commitments.

Paramount is controlled by Larry Ellison and his son David, a movie producer now assembling a media empire. The Ellisons took control of Paramount in August and have since submitted multiple bids for Warner Bros., which would give their undersized company another of Hollywood’s original studios and more scale in streaming.

Today's show features:

Bloomberg News Managing Editor for Media & Entertainment Lucas Shaw on Warner Bros. Discovery's plans to reject a takeover bid from Paramount Skydance
Ross Mayfield, Investment Strategist at Baird on Tuesday’s Fed minutes release and the investment outlook for 2026 Private Wealth Management
Ed Price , Senior Non-Resident Fellow at New York University, on geopolitical unrest in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America
Melissa Brown, Head of Investment Decision Research at SimCorp, on the momentum trade and key historical market indicators to watch with earnings season on the horizon

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