Paramount Skydance has fired the starting pistol on a rare, public fight for Hollywood's future, launching a hostile, all-cash $108.4 billion (approximately £81 billion) offer for Warner Bros. Discovery that goes straight to shareholders and aims to derail Warner's board-backed agreement with Netflix.
Paramount is pitching $30 (approximately £22.5) a share for the whole of WBD, including legacy linear networks that Netflix's narrower deal excludes. The move recasts a negotiated sale into an open bout between two titans with incompatible strategies for scale, assets and regulatory risk.
