David Ellison

Money Moves

Escalating hostile takeover attempts through litigation and board challenges; extended tender deadline to February 20

On December 5, 2025, Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) announced a definitive deal for Netflix to acquire Warner Bros.' film and television studios plus its premium and streaming businesses, including HBO and HBO Max, in a transaction valued at roughly $72 billion in equity and $82.7 billion including debt. On January 20, 2026, the parties amended the agreement to an all-cash structure at the same $27.75 per share price, accelerating the timeline for a shareholder vote now expected by April 2026. The deal follows WBD's June 2025 decision to split into two public companies—Warner Bros. (studios and streaming) and Discovery Global (cable networks)—and caps a months-long auction in which Netflix outbid Paramount Skydance and Comcast. In the weeks following the announcement, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos met personally with President Donald Trump at the White House, while rival Paramount Skydance launched a $108 billion hostile tender offer that WBD's board has repeatedly rejected.

Updated Jan 24

Money Moves

Leading hostile tender offer for Warner Bros. Discovery

In late 2025, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) put itself in play, triggering a rare open bidding war over a century-old Hollywood studio and one of the world's most valuable content libraries. After months of private and public offers from Netflix, Paramount Skydance and Comcast, WBD's board agreed on December 5, 2025 to sell its studios and streaming arm—including HBO, DC, and the Warner Bros. film and TV operations—to Netflix in a $72 billion cash‑and‑stock deal, leaving its cable networks such as CNN outside the transaction.

Updated Jan 6

Rule Changes

Overseeing CBS News restructuring after merger completion

Three hours before airtime on December 22, CBS News killed a 60 Minutes investigation into Venezuelan migrants tortured in an El Salvador prison after Trump deportations. The segment had passed five screenings, legal review, and standards checks. New editor-in-chief Bari Weiss—appointed two months earlier when Paramount Skydance bought her media company for $150 million—demanded the piece include Trump administration comment or an interview with hardline advisor Stephen Miller. When the White House refused, she spiked it.

Updated Dec 25, 2025

Money Moves

Driving hostile $30/share tender offer to acquire all of WBD and supplant Netflix deal

After Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery announced their $72 billion equity-value agreement on December 5, the transaction quickly became a live bidding contest and a regulatory test case. On December 8, Paramount Skydance launched an unsolicited all-cash tender offer for all of WBD at $30 per share, seeking to derail the Netflix deal and keep the company intact (including the networks slated for the Discovery Global spin-off). Within days, Netflix began a coordinated shareholder push backing its signed merger agreement and emphasizing regulatory execution, while WBD prepared formal filings to respond to the tender offer.

Updated Dec 11, 2025