Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) has become the centre of the largest takeover battle in modern Hollywood. Last week, Netflix struck a binding agreement to buy Warner Bros’ film and television studios and HBO for USD 82.7 billion. Under that deal, WBD’s remaining cable networks — CNN, TNT, TBS and others — would be separated into a new standalone, publicly traded company. The structure reflected WBD’s ongoing financial strain: the company has been burdened by more than USD 33 billion in debt, facing steep declines in cable revenue, and struggling to integrate the WarnerMedia and Discovery businesses, which have vastly different content identities.
Netflix’s interest was strategic. The acquisition would give it control of Warner Bros Pictures, HBO’s acclaimed programming, and major franchises including DC — effectively transforming Netflix from the world’s largest streaming platform into a combined studio–streaming powerhouse with one of the richest catalogues in the industry. It also signalled Netflix’s belief that the future of media lies in owning premium IP and global distribution, rather than maintaining legacy cable infrastructure.
Days after the Netflix deal was announced, Paramount Skydance submitted a significantly larger USD 108.4 billion all-cash offer to acquire the entire WBD entity. Unlike Netflix’s proposal, which involves splitting the company, Paramount’s bid keeps theatrical, streaming, cable and news divisions intact. Paramount has taken its proposal directly to WBD shareholders and argues that its offer not only provides more immediate financial value but maintains the scale of a diversified media group at a time of consolidation across Hollywood.
WBD’s board has said it will review Paramount’s proposal within ten business days. However, the company remains, for now, publicly committed to its signed agreement with Netflix. Both bids reflect the urgency of WBD’s situation: the company is unlikely to sustain its current structure, and a major reorganisation — whether through sale, breakup, or full acquisition — has become unavoidable.
BTB So What?
The significance lies in what the competing bids reveal about Hollywood’s next operating model: whether value flows through tightly integrated streaming platforms or through diversified media groups that still believe in scale across formats. Netflix’s move reflects the belief that the centre of cultural and commercial power has fully shifted to streaming. In this view, the future belongs to companies that control vast libraries of premium content and deliver them directly to audiences worldwide. Everything else — cable infrastructure, linear schedules, legacy distribution — is treated as residue from a previous era, valuable only insofar as it can be separated and managed elsewhere. A Netflix-owned Warner Bros would accelerate the consolidation of production and distribution into a single digital ecosystem where value is determined by scale, data and global reach.
Paramount’s offer reads the landscape differently. It rejects the idea that the industry must inevitably narrow itself to a few streaming superstructures and instead argues that breadth still matters — that theatrical releases, cable networks, news divisions and streaming platforms can reinforce one another when operated as a cohesive whole. It is a defence of the notion that culture is shaped across multiple formats, and that diversified organisations may be better equipped to navigate fragmented audiences and unpredictable economics. Where Netflix pursues focus, Paramount argues for ecosystem strength.
The implications reach well beyond corporate restructuring. Whoever acquires WBD will control some of the world’s most influential cultural assets — from century-old film archives to contemporary franchises that define global entertainment. The outcome will shape how stories are financed, how talent is developed, how release windows evolve, and how much creative decision-making is tied to platform incentives rather than broader cultural ambition. It will also signal whether Hollywood’s future is built around digital concentration or around reimagined conglomerates capable of operating across multiple media environments.
In essence, the industry is being forced to choose between two competing futures: one driven by streaming efficiency and algorithmic distribution, and another that preserves the multi-format architecture that has long defined the entertainment landscape. The decision will reverberate across culture and commerce in ways that extend far beyond the headline valuations.