Key Points:
- Offer Rejected: Warner Bros. Discovery has declined a $20-per-share acquisition proposal from Paramount Global and Skydance Media.
- Strategic Concerns: The board reportedly found the offer undervalued the company and raised concerns about strategic alignment.
- Industry Impact: The rejection signals continued consolidation pressure in the media sector amid streaming competition and shifting valuations.
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has reportedly turned down an acquisition proposal from Paramount Skydance valued at around $20 per share, calling the offer “too low,” according to a Bloomberg News report citing unnamed sources.
Offer Rejected as Valuation Falls Short
The proposal, made in recent weeks by David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance, aimed to acquire WBD in a deal that would have further reshaped the media and entertainment landscape. However, WBD, the parent company of HBO, Warner Bros. Entertainment, CNN, TNT, and TBS, considered the offer below its expectations.
As of Friday’s market close, WBD shares were priced at $17.10 — up over 36% since reports of Ellison’s acquisition interest surfaced on September 11. The company currently holds a market capitalization of approximately $42.3 billion. Bloomberg’s report did not specify whether the offer accounted for WBD’s total debt, which stood at $35.6 billion as of June 30.
Paramount Skydance Explores Partnership with Apollo
Paramount Skydance has reportedly been in discussions with Apollo Global Management about collaborating on a potential bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. Apollo, an asset management firm, had previously expressed interest in acquiring Paramount Global before Ellison’s Skydance completed its $8 billion merger with the media company earlier this year.
Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle and David Ellison’s father, is said to have provided most of the financing for Skydance’s Paramount Global deal. This backing underscores Skydance’s ambitions to expand its content production capabilities through strategic mergers and acquisitions.
Strategic Intent: Expanding Content and Scale
During a recent appearance at Bloomberg’s Screentime conference in Los Angeles, David Ellison did not confirm Paramount Skydance’s bid for WBD. However, he emphasized the importance of scaling content creation to remain competitive in the evolving streaming market.
“You actually need more content to yield more engagement,” Ellison said. “We would want to be in the business, through whatever lens we’re looking at, to produce more movies and more television series to get more scale and engagement.”
Ellison highlighted his belief that greater consolidation could help media companies achieve sustainable growth amid increasing competition from global streaming platforms. His comments align with remarks made by WBD CEO David Zaslav earlier this year, who also pointed to consolidation as a likely industry trend.
Full Acquisition and Upcoming Corporate Restructuring
Paramount Skydance’s proposal reportedly aimed to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in its entirety, as first noted by The Wall Street Journal. The offer arrives at a critical time for WBD, which plans to restructure next spring into two independent companies — Warner Bros., focusing on studios and streaming, and Discovery Global, which will oversee TV networks and Discovery+.
The potential acquisition would represent one of the largest media mergers in recent years, signaling ongoing shifts in the entertainment industry as companies compete for content, technology, and audience reach.
Industry Response and Next Steps
Representatives for Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount Skydance, and Apollo Global Management declined to comment on the reported offer. Analysts suggest that future negotiations could depend on how WBD’s valuation evolves in the coming months, particularly amid ongoing strategic changes and debt management efforts.
The rejected offer marks another chapter in the continuing consolidation trend across the entertainment sector, where content ownership, distribution control, and streaming scale remain central to long-term growth strategies.
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