Hollywood’s Biggest Takeover Battle Is Heating Up

According to Financial Times News, Paramount CEO David Ellison has made his fourth multibillion-dollar bid for Warner Bros Discovery since September, just weeks after closing his $8 billion acquisition of Paramount in August. The bidding war now includes Comcast and Netflix, with all three companies due to submit offers to the Warner Bros board on Thursday. Ellison’s previous offer was $23.50 per share, representing a nearly 90% premium from before he began pursuing the company. Warner Bros CEO David Zaslav has essentially put the company up for sale after rejecting Ellison’s third bid in October, aiming to complete a deal by year-end despite regulatory challenges.

The Hollywood consolidation game

Here’s the thing about this bidding war – it’s not really about who wants Warner Bros the most, but who needs it to survive. The traditional studio model is crumbling, with box office revenue and cable subscriptions both in decline. Everyone’s scrambling for scale to compete with Netflix’s streaming dominance and the deep pockets of tech giants like Apple and Amazon. Paramount+ only captures about 2% of monthly US viewing time – that’s practically nothing in this market. Adding HBO Max and Warner Bros’ massive content library would instantly make them a real player. But is buying your way to relevance really the answer? We’ve seen this movie before with other media mergers, and the ending isn’t always happy.

The political wildcard

Now here’s where it gets really interesting. Ellison seems to have a secret weapon in Washington. His father Larry Ellison is a prominent Republican donor with warm relations with President Trump, and Paramount’s new chief legal officer Makan Delrahim served as Trump’s antitrust chief. David Ellison was even at Trump’s White House dinner for Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince this week. Meanwhile, Comcast’s Brian Roberts has been publicly criticized by Trump, who called the company a “disgrace to broadcasting.” In today’s environment, regulatory approval isn’t just about market concentration – it’s about political relationships. That gives Paramount a potentially decisive advantage in what’s becoming an unusually political auction process.

Netflix as the surprise bidder

So what’s Netflix doing in this fight? That’s the billion-dollar question. The streaming pioneer has built its entire business on internal growth rather than acquisitions – they’ve never done a deal anywhere near this scale in 27 years. Some people close to Netflix think they’re just using the process to get a rare look inside Warner Bros’ operations, particularly HBO. Others wonder if Ted Sarandos actually wants the Warner Bros studio lot, since he’d previously shown interest in Paramount’s. But here’s the reality: Netflix “wields unequalled market power” in streaming already, as Republican Darrell Issa noted in his letter to the Justice Department. Combining with HBO Max would definitely raise antitrust concerns. Are they serious bidders or just kicking tires? My money’s on the latter.

Endgame predictions

Most people involved think this is Paramount’s game to lose. They’ve got the political advantage, the financial backing from Larry Ellison’s deep pockets (including potential support from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund), and they actually want the whole company – studio, cable assets, everything. Comcast only wants the entertainment businesses, not the declining cable properties. But Zaslav is playing this brilliantly – he’s turned what could have been a desperate sale into a genuine auction. The goal to wrap up by year-end seems completely unrealistic given regulatory hurdles, but the pressure is on. One thing’s for sure: whoever wins this battle will instantly become a media titan capable of taking on the tech giants. The Hollywood landscape we’ve known for a century is about to get completely redrawn.