NEW YORK, December 29, 2025, 09:11 PM ET — Market closed
- WBD slipped 0.04% to $28.79, trading in a tight $28.70–$29.10 range.
- Shares stayed below Paramount Skydance’s $30-per-share cash tender offer as Netflix’s cash-and-stock deal remains the board’s preferred path. Reuters+2Warner Bros. Discovery+2
- Traders are watching Tuesday’s Fed minutes and any fresh merger filings ahead of the Jan. 21 tender deadline. Reuters+2Reuters+2
Warner Bros Discovery’s Series A shares were down 1 cent, or 0.04%, at $28.79 on Monday.
The stock is trading like a deal-arbitrage play, with investors trying to price the odds of rival bids for the media group and the timing of what comes next. Paramount Skydance is pursuing a $30-per-share all-cash tender offer, while Netflix has a board-backed cash-and-stock agreement on the table. Reuters+2Reuters+2
At Monday’s last price, WBD traded about 4% below Paramount’s $30 offer. That gap — the “deal spread,” or the difference between the bid price and the stock price — typically reflects perceived closing risk, including regulatory scrutiny and financing certainty. Reuters
Paramount Skydance amended its hostile bid last week to bolster financing and increased the regulatory failure fee, but the price stayed at $30 a share, Reuters reported. A major shareholder, Harris Oakmark, said the revised terms still did not offer enough incentive to switch paths. Reuters
Warner Bros Discovery’s board has urged shareholders to reject Paramount’s tender offer, saying a Netflix combination offered “superior, more certain value,” the company said. Warner Bros. Discovery
Under the Netflix agreement, each Warner Bros Discovery shareholder would receive $23.25 in cash and about $4.50 in Netflix stock per share, valuing Warner at $27.75 a share, Reuters reported. Reuters
Financing remains a key watchpoint because the cash portion of any deal has to clear markets. Netflix has refinanced part of a $59 billion bridge loan — short-term borrowing used to fund an acquisition — tied to the transaction, Reuters reported. Reuters
The broader tape was also soft in holiday-thinned trade. U.S. stocks ended lower on Monday, and “the broader market is looking at the strength of last week and selling off as we head into year-end,” said Rob Haworth, a senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. Reuters
Netflix shares were down 0.33% at $94.15, Paramount Skydance slipped 0.66% to $13.50, and Oracle fell 1.32% to $195.38. Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison has been cited in Reuters reporting as providing a personal guarantee to support Paramount’s bid. Reuters
Investors are now focused on process as much as price. Warner Bros Discovery has said Netflix intends to file a Form S-4 registration statement with a proxy statement/prospectus, while WBD plans its own filings and a registration statement for a newly formed unit, Discovery Global, tied to the proposed transaction structure. Warner Bros. Discovery+1
Before next session, traders will parse the Federal Reserve’s December meeting minutes and a slate of U.S. data releases that can move rates and risk appetite, including the S&P Case-Shiller home price index and Chicago PMI. Reuters+1
In the deal calendar, the next hard date investors cite is the tender offer deadline, which Reuters has reported was extended to Jan. 21. Any further changes to terms, or new regulatory signals, would likely show up first in filings and could quickly widen or narrow the spread. Reuters
On fundamentals, Warner Bros Discovery has not confirmed its next earnings date, but Wall Street calendars estimate a late-February report. On the chart, traders keep circling $30 as the key level because it matches Paramount’s cash bid; Monday’s low was $28.70. MarketBeat+1
