Paramount extends its deadline for its Warner Bros. tender offer, again
[January 23, 2026] By
WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS
NEW YORK (AP) — Skydance-owned Paramount is again extending the tender
offer window in its $77.9 billion hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros.
Discovery, while doubling down on a coming proxy fight.
Warner stockholders now have until Feb. 20 to sell their shares to
Paramount for $30 apiece in cash — a price that remains unchanged,
giving the offer a total enterprise value of over $108 billion including
debt. It marks the second extension the company has made since
challenging Warner’s merger agreement with Netflix last month.
As of late Wednesday, Paramount said that more than 168.5 million Warner
shares had been tendered in support of its offer. But that's still far
below the 50% mark it would need to effectively gain control of Warner —
which has about 2.48 billion shares outstanding in series A common stock
today.
“Once again, Paramount continues to make the same offer our Board has
repeatedly and unanimously rejected in favor of a superior merger
agreement with Netflix," Warner said in an emailed statement Thursday —
adding that it's “clear our shareholders agree," as more than 93% have
so far rejected “Paramount’s inferior scheme.”
In December, Netflix agreed to buy Warner's studio and streaming
business for $72 billion — now in an all-cash deal that the companies
say is more straight forward and will speed up the path to a shareholder
vote by April. Including debt, the enterprise value of the deal is about
$83 billion, or $27.75 per share.
But Paramount argues its offer is better than Netflix’s and has accused
Warner leadership of not being transparent with stockholders. On
Thursday, the company claimed Warner’s board was “rushing to solicit
shareholder approval” for the Netflix merger, which it said could lead
to a lower payout for shareholders if debt spanning from a
previously-announced spinoff of Warner’s networks business makes its way
to studio and streaming operations.
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The Warner Bros. water tower is seen at Warner Bros. Studios in
Burbank, Calif., Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
 In an escalation of its hostile bid,
Paramount is also moving forward with a proxy fight. Earlier this
month, the company announced plans to nominate its own slate of
directors to Warner’s board before the next shareholder meeting. And
on Thursday, Paramount filed preliminary materials to solicit
proxies in opposition to the Netflix merger.
The battle for Warner and the value of each offer grows complicated
because Netflix and Paramount want different things. Netflix’s
proposed acquisition includes only Warner’s studio and streaming
business, including its legacy TV and movie production arms and
platforms like HBO Max. But Paramount’s bid is for the entire
company — which, beyond studio and streaming, includes its news and
cable operations. That would put CNN under the same roof as CBS.
If Netflix is successful, Warner’s current networks would be spun
off into their own company called Discovery Global, under a
previously-announced separation.
Regardless of who wins the upper hand, a Warner Bros. Discovery sale
could be a long, drawn-out process — likely attracting tremendous
antitrust scrutiny. Politics are expected to come into play under
President Donald Trump, who has made unprecedented suggestions about
his personal involvement on whether a deal will go through.
Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix both fell slightly
Thursday. Shares of Paramount-Skydance rose nearly 3%.
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