On December 17, 2025, Warner Bros. Discovery’s board formally urged shareholders to reject Paramount Skydance’s hostile $108 billion takeover bid and to back the company’s previously announced agreement with Netflix. The WBD board called Paramount’s $30-a-share offer “inferior” and said it carried substantial risks that the company’s preferred Netflix transaction does not.
Warner’s letter to investors accused the Ellison family-backed bid of leaning on an opaque revocable trust and lacking any firm commitment from the Ellisons themselves, raising legitimate questions about the true financing behind the deal. Board chair Samuel DiPiazza said the Paramount proposal “remains inferior” after a fresh review, stressing the potential costs and uncertainties shareholders would face if they tendered.
Paramount pushed back immediately, reaffirming the all-cash $30-per-share offer and insisting it has lined up the necessary financing, while accusing WBD of misleading shareholders about the strength of its bid. Markets reacted nervously: Paramount’s stock slid after the rejection, Warner shares dipped, and Netflix popped on the news that its rival bid had been endorsed by the WBD board.
Conservatives should be clear-eyed about what’s really at stake in this conflict: it isn’t a friendly tussle between corporate giants, it’s a battle over control of narrative-shaping institutions and the future of American culture. Whether a deal is funded by domestic billionaires, foreign sovereign wealth funds, or opaque trusts, the American people deserve transparency and accountability, not backroom finance deals that could hand our storytelling power to interests with misaligned priorities.
Questions about outside funding have only made the matter more urgent. Filings show significant commitments from sovereign wealth funds and other outside backers to support Paramount’s equity, and reports say Affinity Partners stepped back from the process — all of which raises national-security and public-interest concerns that regulators cannot ignore. Conservatives who care about national sovereignty and fair markets should demand full disclosure before any vote is taken.
This fight will now play out with a shareholder deadline looming on January 8, 2026, and the outcome will reshape Hollywood and the media marketplace for years to come. Hardworking Americans should watch closely: regulators and shareholders must prioritize transparency, competitive markets, and the preservation of American creative institutions over quick payouts or partisan, tech-industry consolidation. The people who pay for this content deserve better than secretive deals and distant billionaires calling the shots.
