Paramount extends deadline again in $77.9B hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery
Paramount, owned by Skydance, extended the tender deadline for its hostile offer for Warner Bros. Discovery as it tries to reach the share threshold needed, while Warner continues to back a rival Netflix deal.
NEW YORK — Paramount, now owned by Skydance, has extended the deadline again for its $77.9 billion hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, pushing the tender offer out to February 20. The move underscores how difficult it has been for Paramount to persuade shareholders to tender enough shares to hit the acceptance threshold.
Paramount is offering $30 per share in cash, but the tendered shares remain well short of the 50% level required. Warner Bros. Discovery, meanwhile, continues to reject Paramount’s proposal and is pursuing a competing transaction structure with Netflix for the company’s studio and streaming assets, with a shareholder vote targeted by April.
The situation has evolved into a complicated contest because the bidders want different pieces of the company. Netflix’s proposal focuses on the studio and streaming business, while Paramount is aiming for the entire corporate structure, which would include cable and news operations. That difference has made valuation debates and investor messaging more contentious.
As Paramount presses its case, it has accused Warner leadership of insufficient transparency and is escalating tactics beyond the tender offer. The company has also advanced a proxy fight, seeking to challenge governance and potentially reshape the board’s approach to evaluating the competing deals.
Both routes face regulatory risk. Any combination that materially changes the media and streaming landscape is expected to draw close antitrust scrutiny, and political attention could intensify given the size of the proposed transactions and the potential consolidation of major entertainment and news assets.
With deadlines approaching and competing bids on the table, Warner shareholders are being asked to weigh the certainty of cash today against strategic bets on streaming, studios, legacy cable, and the regulatory path ahead. The repeated extensions indicate Paramount believes there is still an opening, but time — and shareholder patience — is narrowing.