Paramount Skydance Corp (NASDAQ:PSKY) has made a hostile all-cash $108-billion bid for Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. (NASDAQ:WBD), giving rival bidder Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) a run for its money and turning the streaming wars into a TV drama-worthy showdown.
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At last check on Tuesday, WBD stock surged about 2.9% as investors dared to dream of a blockbuster bailout for a studio drowning in debt—around $33-34 billion. And like Walt Disney Co‘s (NYSE:DIS) Disney+ platform, it lags behind Netflix.
And yet, every streamer lags behind Alphabet Inc.’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) YouTube.
But the question is not whether Netflix or Paramount is the better suitor for WBD (the Writers’ Guild of America and anti-monopoly lawmakers oppose both scenarios), but which deal the Trump administration prefers.
Enter Trump
On Sunday, President Donald Trump said he intends to play a direct role in the federal review of Netflix's proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, even as he praised the former's co-CEO, Ted Sarandos.
"I'll be involved in that decision," Trump told Deadline, adding that the merged entity would command a "very big market share" that "could be a problem" depending on what economists determine.
Trump’s critics a reading between the lines.
“Donald Trump said he'll ‘be involved in’ deciding if Netflix can buy Warner Bros.,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren posted on X. “Is that an open invite for CEOs to curry favor with Trump in exchange for merger approvals? It should be an independent decision by the Department of Justice based on the law and facts.”
Despite raising concerns over consolidation, Trump has spoken warmly of Sarandos, calling him a "fantastic" person who has "done a legendary job" at Netflix.
At the same time, Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison and his billionaire dad, Larry Ellison, are friendly with Trump. At least one senior White House official has explicitly said that the Warner board should “think very seriously” about “the suitor pool,” implying that the Ellisons should be the preferred choice.
If both deals land on the DOJ's desk alongside renewed scrutiny of tech-media consolidation, things could get messy fast.
Paramount Skydance also wants to retain WBD’s news and information properties, and David Ellison not only visited Trump to make his case but also reportedly promised a CNN rehaul.
Netflix’s $82.7 billion deal, for what it’s worth, would wait for WBD to spin off its linear TV assets, which include CNN, in 2026.
Shareholder Sweeteners
Adding another layer of irony: Paramount just dropped a surprise five-cent dividend, a gesture that feels less like confidence and more like hush money to keep investors calm while the knives are out.
The pitch behind Paramount Skydance's $30-per-share offer is simple: scale or die. WBD's content library is world-class, but its balance sheet is a wreck, and the company's streaming ambitions have stalled under the weight of restructuring and subscriber churn.
Consolidation, it argues, is the best way to survive an environment where tech giants bankroll platforms like status symbols and legacy studios bleed cash trying to catch up.
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