Warner Bros. Discovery has applauded Paramount Skydance’s lawsuit seeking detailed financial details of WBD’s deal with Netflix, saying Paramount’s ongoing campaign to convince Warner Bros. shareholders that its $30 per share offer is a better offer is an attempt to “distract” investors.
WBD said in a statement that Paramount’s lawsuit, filed Monday in Delaware Court of Chancery, is “without merit.” The company said Paramount, led by Chairman and CEO David Ellison, “has not yet increased the price” of its proposed outright acquisition of WBD.
“After six weeks and an equally large number of press releases from Paramount Skydance, the company has yet to increase the price or address the numerous obvious flaws in the offer,” WBD said in a statement on Monday. “Instead, Paramount Skydance is attempting to distract with baseless lawsuits and attacks on its board of directors that have delivered an unprecedented amount of shareholder value. Despite multiple opportunities, Paramount Skydance continues to propose that the deal unanimously entered into by its board of directors is no better than its merger agreement with Netflix.”
Just weeks after Skydance Media’s acquisition of Paramount Global was completed in August 2025, Ellison began what became a bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery. Paramount is seeking to buy WBD in its entirety, but WBD’s board has rejected eight consecutive offers from Ellison and his backers, including his father, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.
After evaluating offers from Paramount, Comcast, and Netflix, WBD’s board of directors elected to enter into an agreement with Netflix. Under the agreement, Netflix will pay $27.75 per share in cash and stock for Warner Bros.’ movie and television studio operations, HBO and HBO Max, and the gaming division. The sale of Netflix is expected to be completed following WBD’s spin-off in Q3 2026 of Discovery Global, which includes assets such as CNN, TBS, HGTV, Food Network and Discovery+.
David Ellison, who was ghosted by Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav in the hours before WBD announced its deal with Netflix, isn’t giving up the fight for WBD. He continues to argue that the Paramount Skydance offer is a better deal for WBD shareholders.
A key question raised by Paramount in alleging a hostile takeover is how WBD assigns value to Discovery Global.
Paramount’s Jan. 12 lawsuit names Zaslav and other WBD board members as defendants and asks the media company to disclose how it values Discovery Global in relation to the overall value of the Netflix deal, including how much debt WBD assumes for Discovery Global.
Paramount said these are critical details in evaluating the total shareholder value of the Netflix deal and Paramount’s offer. Netflix’s total transaction to WBD shareholders is $27.42 per share, according to Paramount’s Jan. 8 analysis. This means that Discovery Global’s stock would be worth zero under the Netflix deal, given that Netflix’s stock price has fallen since the deal was announced.
In addition to suing WBD’s board of directors, Paramount formally announced on Monday that it plans to nominate rival director candidates for election at the 2026 Warner Bros. Discovery shareholder meeting to encourage the board to join Paramount’s $30-per-share offer.
