Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 10, 2026
4 min readLast updated: March 1, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleNetflix and Paramount Skydance are vying for Warner Bros Discovery, with each offering distinct financial terms and strategic advantages.
Feb 27 (Reuters) - Paramount Skydance on Friday said it will acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in a $110 billion deal, ending a bidding contest for the owner of HBO Max after Netflix walked away.
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026.
David Ellison-led Paramount paid the $2.80 billion termination fee that Warner Bros owed Netflix, the streaming giant said in a regulatory filing.
Netflix declined to match Paramount's $31-per-share offer, which Warner Bros. Discovery deemed superior to Netflix's $27.75-per-share agreement for its studio and streaming assets.
Here is how both the bids compare:
Netflix Paramount Skydance
Savings $2 billion to $3 Combined business will
billion in annual execute more than $6
savings billion in cost
synergies
Offer All-cash $27.75 per All-cash tender offer
share of $31.00 per share
and a ticking fee of
25 cents per share for
every quarter the deal
does not close,
starting September 30,
2026
Premium 121.3% to Warner Bros 147% to
Discovery's closing the undisturbed Warner
price on September 10 Bros' stock price of
$12.54 as of September
10
Closing Between 12 months and More than 12 months
18 months
CEOs Co-CEOs Ted Sarandos David Ellison
and Greg Peters
Backers Debt funding of up to The amended offer is
and $59 billion via Wells fully financed by
financing Fargo, BNP Paribas, increased equity
and HSBC Bank, along commitments of $45.7
with cash on hand billion from the
Ellison family, a
personal guarantee
from Larry Ellison,
and $57.5 billion in
debt commitments from
Bank of America,
Citigroup, and Apollo.
Other financing
partners include Saudi
Arabia's Public
Investment Fund, Abu
Dhabi-based L'imad
Holding Company PJSC,
Qatar Investment
Authority
Value Enterprise value of Enterprise value of
$82.7 billion, equity $110 billion, equity
value of $72.0 billion value of $81 billion
Breakup Netflix to pay $5.8 Paramount to pay $7
fee billion, Warner Bros billion. It has also
to pay $2.8 billion agreed to cover the
$2.8 billion
breakup-fee Warner
Bros owes Netflix. It
also said it would
backstop Warner Bros'
planned debt exchange,
eliminating the risk
of a potential $1.5
billion fee owed to
bondholders, and would
grant WBD the same
interim operating
flexibility it
negotiated with
Netflix.
Streaming Over 325 million 79.1 million
subscriber
s
U.S. "I haven't been Trump, in a post on
President involved," Trump said Truth Social,
Donald in an interview with criticized CBS and its
Trump's NBC News in February. new owners after
comments "I must say, I guess Paramount was acquired
I'm considered to be a by Skydance. He said
very strong president. that since the
I've been called by acquisition, the
both sides. It's the program 60 minutes has
two sides, but I've "actually gotten
decided I shouldn't be worse." In the past,
involved. The Justice however, Trump has
Department will handle praised Paramount
it." Previously, Trump Skydance CEO David
has said, "Netflix is Ellison, calling him
a great company. "great".
They've done a
phenomenal job. Ted is
a fantastic man… They
have a very big market
share and when they
have Warner Bros., you
know, that share goes
up a lot so, I don't
know."
Market cap Valued at Valued at
$357.15 billion as of $12.43 billion as of
February 27. February 27.
Assets on Warner Bros' film and All of Warner Bros.
the line television studios, Discovery, including
videogame IP and film, television,
developers, HBO streaming, gaming, and
network and its cable television
content library, and networks such as HBO
the HBO Max streaming and CNN.
service.
Source: Company filings, LSEG data, media reports
(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala, Anhata Rooprai, Arnav Mishra, Juveria Tabassum and Sneha S K in Bengaluru and Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Arun Koyyur, Sriraj Kalluvila, Rashmi Aich, Shinjini Ganguli, Maju Samuel and Tasim Zahid)
Market capitalization is the total market value of a company's outstanding shares of stock. It is calculated by multiplying the share price by the total number of shares.
Cost synergies refer to the savings that result from the consolidation of operations, which can occur during mergers or acquisitions. These savings can come from reduced overhead, shared resources, or streamlined processes.
An all-cash offer is a type of bid in which the buyer proposes to pay the entire purchase price in cash, rather than using stock or other forms of payment.
A tender offer is a public proposal by an investor to purchase some or all of shareholders' shares at a specified price, usually at a premium over the current market price.
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