On 8 December 2025, Hollywood’s most dramatic takeover battle in years escalated again as Paramount Skydance launched a hostile, all‑cash bid to buy Warner Bros Discovery for $30 a share – valuing the company at about $108.4 billion including debt. The move directly challenges the $82.7 billion deal WBD struck just days earlier to sell its studio and HBO to Netflix, and puts some of the world’s most valuable entertainment brands at the centre of a high‑stakes fight involving Wall Street, Washington and foreign investors. Reuters+2The Guardian+2 Netflix had been declared the winner of a months‑long auction on 5 December, agreeing to acquire Warner Bros’ film and TV studios, HBO and HBO Max for $72 billion in cash and stock and to assume more than $10 billion of WBD debt. Paramount Skydance’s hostile counter‑offer now reopens the contest – and raises fresh questions over competition, media plurality and political influence as regulators, unions and lawmakers line up to scrutinise both deals. Los Angeles Times+2The Guardian+2