Exclusive | Paramount Skydance might not should go ‘hostile’ to thwart Warner Bros. Discovery’s merger with Netflix

Paramount Skydance and its deep-pocketed homeowners David and Larry Ellison might not should get that “hostile” to thwart Warner Bros. Discovery’s merger with Netflix, On The Money has discovered.

In the days since Netflix received the public sale with its $72 billion bid for the Warner Bros. studio and HBO Max streaming service, WBD’s wily CEO David Zaslav has signaled to close associates he can envision the Ellisons upending the monster deal with a greater bid, sources said.

Specifically, Zaslav sees an settlement through which the Ellisons raise their bid enough to cowl the $2.8 billion breakup charge that WBD would face if it walks away from the Netflix deal, according to people with direct information of the matter.

Paramount Skydance and its deep-pocketed homeowners David and Larry Ellison (above) might not should get that “hostile” to thwart Warner Bros. Discovery’s merger with Netflix, On The Money has discovered. Donald Pearsall / NY Post Design

“(Zaslav’s) thinking is that the Ellisons could come back with $35 all cash that covers the $2.8 billion break up fee,” said one particular person with direct information of the WBD chief’s considering. “And then he has to get in a room and decide which offer is best for shareholders, and the Ellisons own it.”

A rep for Zaslav had no remark. WBD said it’s reviewing the renewed offer and can make a determination in 10 days. A spokeswoman for the Ellisons declined to remark.

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David and Larry said Monday morning that they’re going above Zaslav and his board with a so-called hostile offer to the company’s shareholders. They imagine their $30-a-share, all-cash offer was superior to the cash-and-stock, bells-and-whistles bid offered by Netflix –  arguing that it surpassed theirs by a mere 75 cents a share while carrying quite a few drawbacks and query marks for WBD shareholders.

Zas, as he’s identified in media land, is said to have seen the Ellisons’ intentions coming. He is aware of the Ellisons – Larry particularly, who has amassed a fortune of more than $250 billion together with his dealmaking prowess in Silicon Valley – weren’t going away quietly. That’s when he despatched out phrase that for a few more bucks, WBD may very well be theirs, these people add.

How a lot Ellisons are keen to raise their bid is unclear. Monday morning, David Ellison said he would have gone greater than his $30 a share offer before WBD announced Netflix the winner at $30.75 . But in going hostile, he’s signaling to WBD shareholders that he and his father’s all money bid of $30 a share, or $78 billion, is still superior to Netflix’s $27.75 a share offer.

Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison David Ellison at the New York Stock Exchange on Dec. 8, 2025. REUTERS

Netflix’s bid, they be aware, consists of 15% stock, while counting on wherever from $2 a share to $4 a share further from the eventual sale of WBD’s cable properties, Discovery, TNT, CNN. Indeed, they argue, $3 a share is probably going a beneficiant valuation for those shrinking property.

Netflix is shopping for just WBD Warner studio and HBO Max streaming service; the Ellison’s need every little thing including the cable channels. They will inform shareholders that the Netflix deal accommodates one thing generally known as “tax leakage,” or an hostile tax event because their company is basically being damaged aside and that too will depress their all-in price. 

People inside Paramount Skydance imagine that the board was unaware that it could be keen to bid greater than $30 because Zaslav needed to seal the deal together with his close pal, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos.

Most of all they’ll argue “regulatory certainty.” As reported, Larry Ellison is a close pal of president Trump, a long time MAGA supporter. But more than that, as The Post first reported, Trump’s antitrust cops in the Justice Department are wary about Netflix’s growing power in the market for streaming programming, a rising business that more and more large numbers of Americans depend on for leisure. 

Netflix is the streaming chief with 300 million subscribers, while HBO Max is the third largest with 100 million. The so-called horizontal merger will create a streaming colossus protecting some 30% of the streaming market place, and mixed with a top notch studio, having vital monopolistic pricing energy, senior Trump administration officers say.

WBD CEO David Zaslav sees an settlement through which the Ellisons raise their bid enough to cowl the $2.8 billion breakup charge that WBD would face if it walks away from the Netflix deal Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

Zaslav has told people he believes the Netflix deal would ultimately get accepted following, as The Post reported, a face-to-face meeting between Sarandos and the president, who appeared to swayed by the argument that Netflix doesn’t have a monopoly and never will because a lot leisure is consumed by way of platforms like YouTube and social media. 

People inside the Trump administration say the president was noncommittal on the antitrust features of Netflix deal however was gracious in his assembly with Sarandos, and that the WBD people shouldn’t take that as a regulatory greenlight.

“Warner Bros. has a better chance collecting its break up fee from Netflix than getting this deal through,” is how one Trump administration official put it. For its half, Netflix has agreed to pay the company $5.8 billion if it has to stroll away, more than double the quantity that WBD can pay if it decides to call it quits with the streaming big.

Netflix boss Ted Sarandos had a face-to-face-meeting President Trump. Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

Netflix has other points; on Monday its shares continued to slip, underscoring investor skittishness about a major buy that to date the company has averted. People close to the deal say that the decline in share price might influence the so-called collar on the stock portion of what it has agreed to pay WBD, that means it might need to put up more money.

David Ellison, meanwhile, bumped into Trump Sunday evening, at the Kennedy Centers Honors that Trump himself hosted, the first president to take action. Trump was seated together with his spouse Melania, alongside House speaker Mike Johnson, and a few seats away from the youthful Ellison and his spouse.

Ellison and Trump have been noticed chatting; a source says David Ellison gave the president a heads up that the hostile bid was coming in a few hours. Trump appeared to return the favor during a press convention at the event when he requested whether or not Netflix must be allowed to purchase WBD. “That’s a question. They have a very big market share. I’ll be involved in that decision.”

Still, hostile takeovers are arduous and expensive. Yes, the Ellisons have the money. Larry Ellison is backstopping the bid and the appeal to shareholders. He might also write a test that might simply throw Zas another $5 a share that covers his breakup charge and forces Netflix – a $400 billion company, albeit with deal-squeamish public shareholders – to capitulate.

And Zas can be all ears.

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