Mergers and Acquisitions 8 December 2025 - 16 December 2025

Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. is ending the weekend near the $30 level after a week dominated by takeover drama and escalating regulatory scrutiny. WBD was last quoted at $29.98, with an intraday range of $29.76 to $30.06 and volume of about 45.7 million shares in the most recent session. That price action reflects a market trying to handicap two competing endgames: Netflix’s signed plan to buy WBD’s studios/streaming business after a spin-off, and Paramount Skydance’s hostile, all-cash bid for the entire company. SEC+1

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