Paramount Skydance chief executive David Ellison has urged employees to back his $30-a-share hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, casting the offer as a way to “strengthen both companies and the entertainment industry as a whole,” according to a leaked staff memo that lays out his case against a rival deal with Netflix.
In the memo, Ellison argues that combining Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery would create a company with the “reach, resources and creative capacity” to invest aggressively in film, television, sports, news and games, and to compete head-on with streaming platforms like Netflix and YouTube. He tells staff the all-cash proposal is “superior across every dimension,” citing higher value, greater deal certainty and what he describes as a clearer regulatory path, while presenting the transaction as “pro-Hollywood, pro-consumer, and pro-competition.”
Paramount Skydance on Monday launched a public tender offer for all outstanding Warner Bros. Discovery shares at $30 in cash, valuing the company at about $108.4 billion including debt and bypassing Warner’s board after it agreed to sell its studio and streaming operations to Netflix in a cash-and-stock deal worth roughly $82–83 billion. Ellison’s bid is backed by an equity package from his family, RedBird Capital and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners, plus roughly $54 billion in committed debt and significant funding from three Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds.
A securities filing describes months of outreach in which Ellison made a series of proposals to Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, beginning with a lower offer in September and rising to the current $30 bid after concerns were raised about financing and regulatory risk. Paramount accuses Warner’s leadership of running a “tilted” sale process that favored Netflix, pointing to delays in data access and reports that executives labeled the Netflix agreement a “slam dunk” while disparaging Paramount’s offer.
Warner Bros. Discovery has said its board will “carefully review and consider” the hostile proposal and has advised shareholders to take no action until it issues a formal recommendation within 10 business days. Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos has described Paramount’s move as “entirely expected” and expressed confidence that his company’s deal will close, arguing that Netflix’s package provides better protections for jobs and consumers.
Regulators and politicians are already scrutinizing both transactions. Antitrust specialists warn that either combination would concentrate significant power in scripted entertainment and sports rights, while national security officials are examining the role of foreign sovereign funds in Paramount’s financing.
President Donald Trump has signaled he will take a direct interest in the Netflix-Warner review, an unusual level of presidential involvement that has prompted criticism from former competition officials. Paramount has responded by dropping Chinese tech investor Tencent from its financing mix and limiting governance rights for its Gulf partners in an effort to sidestep a full national security probe.
Ellison, who took control of Paramount through last year’s merger of Skydance Media and Paramount Global, is pitching the Warner Bros. Discovery play as the next step in building a scaled studio group that can keep investing in theatrical releases while feeding streaming and broadcast pipelines. Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders now face a stark choice between a board-backed Netflix deal and a richer, all-cash hostile offer that relies on heavy borrowing and a complex web of political and regulatory approvals.
