Netflix has moved to acquire Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion, a massive media deal that would bring the film studio's iconic intellectual property—everything from Harry Potter to Tony Soprano—under the auspices of the streaming giant.
But not so fast! Paramount Skydance has launched a hostile takeover bid and is trying to persuade Warner Bros. shareholders that they would be better off throwing in with Paramount owner David Ellison, who is the son of Larry Ellison, a close ally of President Donald Trump. The two deals are slightly different; under the terms of the Netflix deal, CNN would be spun off separately, whereas Paramount Skydance would also acquire CNN as part of its deal. This would mean that CNN would be part of the same media company as CBS News, which is now run by the right-of-center journalist, Bari Weiss. In other words, the Paramount deal could in theory be more appealing to the Trump administration, though Trump has thus far had relatively nice things to say about Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos as well.
