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The battle for TNT Sports parent company Warner Bros. Discovery has turned hostile.
CBS Sports parent company Paramount, as expected, has initiated a hostile takeover bid for WBD, making an all-cash tender offer of $30 per share for the company—including the linear and sports assets that Netflix does not want. The offer contemplates an enterprise value of $108.4 billion for all of WBD.
The Paramount bid arrives three days after Netflix reached a definitive agreement on an $82.7 billion deal for WBD’s studio and streaming businesses, but not the sports and linear components set to become part of a forthcoming Discovery Global. Paramount is now looking to force a vote among WBD shareholders.
“We are taking our offer directly to shareholders to give them the opportunity to act in their own best interest and maximize the value of their shares,” said Paramount CEO and chair David Ellison.
The latest move arrived after Paramount submitted six proposals for WBD over the past three months, with the unsolicited overtures helping to put WBD formally on the market in October.
“We’re here to finish what we started,” Ellison said Monday morning on CNBC. “This is an existential moment for our business.”
The all-cash tender offer from Paramount, expiring Jan. 8, is backed by a series of strategic partners, including the Ellison family and RedBird Capital Partners, among others. A regulatory filing also detailed that Affinity Partners, an investment firm led by Jared Kushner, son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, is involved in helping finance Paramount’s bid. Paramount is additionally appealing to the Hollywood creative community, touting its offer as far better for those works, and the company has created a “Stronger Hollywood” website to help make its case.
If successful, the Paramount bid would also create a sports media colossus combining its own CBS Sports with TNT Sports, spanning broadcast, cable, and streaming platforms.
“Our deal basically provides a significant amount of synergies in sports rights that will be able to protect those linear properties,” Ellison said on CNBC.
The Netflix bid, conversely, would allow a previously announced split of WBD to happen next year, forming Discovery Global, which would house TNT Sports. Sports will be a significant focus within Discovery Global, if that split happens.
Regulatory Process
Meanwhile, Netflix’s purchase of key parts of TNT Sports parent Warner Bros. Discovery might not have as bumpy a regulatory process as initially thought—if WBD shareholders approve it. Netflix’s deal of $27.75 per share for WBD’s studio and streaming business is a mix of cash and stock, and it doesn’t involve all of WBD. So comparisons between the two bids are complex, but Paramount contends its offer would yield about $18 billion in additional cash to WBD shareholders.
Trump, as expected, said Sunday night he would be personally involved in the approval of the Netflix agreement, but those comments arrived before Paramount’s latest tender offer.
“It has to go through a process, and we’ll see what happens,” Trump said. “Netflix is a great company. They’ve done a phenomenal job. [Netflix co-CEO] Ted [Sarandos] is a fantastic man. I have a lot of respect for him, but it’s a lot of market share [if the deal happens], so we’ll have to see.”
Trump’s comments veer against conventional wisdom that originally suggested Netflix would have governmental trouble because CBS Sports parent Paramount did not prevail in the WBD bidding. Paramount and Ellison have a friendly relationship with the Trump White House.
Before the early Friday announcement of the deal, Sarandos traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with Trump and brief him. Still, the approval process is expected to require much of 2026 to complete, if not more.
Sarandos, however, projected further confidence in the wake of the Paramount offer.
“Today’s move was entirely expected,” he said Monday at a UBS conference. “We have a deal done, and we are incredibly happy with the deal. We think it’s greater for our shareholders. It’s great for consumers. We think it’s a great way to create and protect jobs in the entertainment industry. We’re super confident we’re going to get across the line and finish.”
Editors’ note: RedBird IMI, in which RedBird Capital Partners is a joint venture partner, is the primary investor in Front Office Sports.
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