Warner Bros. Discovery board to review Paramount's revised bid
Warner Bros. Discovery's board confirmed receipt of Paramount's amended all-cash $30-per-share offer and said it will carefully review the bid, which now includes a personal guarantee from Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.
December 22, 2025 - 06:48 PM ET • 2 min read
Warner Bros. Discovery's board of directors confirmed receipt of Paramount's amended all-cash bid for $30 per share on Monday evening and said it will "carefully review and consider" the offer in accordance with the company's existing agreement with Netflix.
"The Warner Bros. Discovery Board of Directors, consistent with its fiduciary duties and in consultation with its independent financial and legal advisors, will carefully review and consider Paramount Skydance's offer in accordance with the terms of Warner Bros. Discovery's agreement with Netflix, Inc," the company said in a statement.
The revised tender offer includes a full backstop personally guaranteed by Larry Ellison, Oracle's co-founder and father of Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison. Ellison agreed to provide an "irrevocable personal guarantee" of $40.4 billion of the equity financing for Paramount's $108.4 billion bid for Warner Bros. Discovery and any damages claims against Paramount.
The revised offer also increased Paramount's termination fee to $5.8 billion, matching Netflix's termination fee, and extended the deadline for the tender offer to later in January.
Warner Bros. Discovery said its board would provide a recommendation following its review and that it will not modify its recommendation on Netflix's $82.7 billion deal. The company is advising shareholders not to take any action with respect to Paramount's tender offer.
Sources said bankers involved in the decision expect the board's review given the contentious and potentially litigious trajectory of the contest for the company, which controls the Warner studio, HBO Max streaming service and cable properties including CNN, Discovery and TNT.
People at Paramount Skydance expect the board to ultimately ignore Larry Ellison's personal guarantee on the deal, according to sources. This expectation follows WBD's previous rejection of Paramount's $30-per-share all-cash offer, citing reliance on backstop money from Ellison's "revocable trust" as cause for the rejection.