Warner Bros. Discovery’s board took a stand this week and told shareholders not to fall for Paramount Skydance’s amended $108 billion takeover pitch, calling the offer “inadequate” and dangerously risky. Conservative Americans who believe in tough, accountable boards should applaud directors who put shareholder value ahead of headline-chasing dealmakers.
The board’s warning wasn’t empty grandstanding — Warner flagged that Paramount’s plan depends on an extraordinary amount of debt and other risky financing, even as it leaned on a massive personal guarantee from Larry Ellison to prop up the offer. That’s not capitalism that protects investors; it’s a leveraged gamble that threatens ordinary shareholders if the deal collapses.
Warner’s directors pointed out the stark contrast with the company’s binding agreement with Netflix, a deal they say offers superior value and far greater certainty for WBD’s studios and streaming assets. Conservatives who distrust corporate cronyism should still demand deals that are transparent and reliable — and the board’s job is to shield shareholders from speculative takeovers that come with strings attached.
Paramount’s hostile tender has been aggressive from the start, even amending terms and raising breakup fees as it rattles its saber at Warner’s leadership. That litigious, grab-first-ask-later approach should concern anyone who believes in orderly markets and property rights; corporate raiding financed with mountains of debt is a recipe for instability.
This fight is also a reminder that concentration of cultural power and corporate consolidation aren’t partisan abstractions — they affect jobs, creative freedom, and American industries. Whether the better path is the Netflix tie-up or a different, cleaner bid, conservatives ought to side with outcomes that preserve long-term value, transparency, and accountability rather than risky financial engineering.
Shareholders now have a decision to make as the tender process plays out, and everyday Americans watching corporate America should demand that directors keep putting investors first. If boards start trading certainty for flashy promises backed by leveraged buyouts, the middle-class investors and employees who power this country will be the ones to pay the bill.
