On December 5, 2025, Netflix announced to the world that they had agreed to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery for about $82.7 billion. This would include their film and television studios, HBO, and HBO Max. Netflix later went on to say that movies and shows that are currently streaming on Warner Bros. sites from franchises like the DC Universe and the Wizarding World would come to their streaming service as a result of this deal. They also said that they would stick to Warner Bros.’ commitment to theatrical releases for its movies, even though they will now have shorter theatrical runs so that they can come to Netflix sooner. However, there was just one problem: another big company stood in the way of this deal going through.
On December 8, 2025, Paramount made a hostile takeover bid of $108.4 billion to buy all of Warner Bros.’ assets, which also included WBD’s cable services like Cartoon Network and CNN, unlike Netflix’s deal. WBD’s shareholders would also get $30 a share, as opposed to Netflix’s deal, which offered them $27.50 per share. Ever since then, Warner Bros. Discovery stock has risen dramatically, closing out last week at $29.98 a share on Nasdaq after growing by around 35% in value since last month.
U.S. President Donald Trump was asked for his input about Netflix’s and Paramount’s fight for Warner Bros. Discovery, and he said, “I’m not involved in that. I will probably be involved—maybe involved—in the decision. It depends. You have some good companies bidding on it.” He then went on to contradict himself by saying that he would support a deal if the company that buys WBD’s studios, HBO, and HBO Max also acquires WBD’s television channels and makes big changes to CNN, which is a cable news network that Trump has long despised. Trump said, “I think CNN should be sold, because I think the people that are running CNN right now are either corrupt or incompetent.”
It would not take that long for Warner Bros. Discovery to make a decision, though, because on December 17, 2025, they officially rejected Paramount’s offer and decided to stick with Netflix’s deal. The WBD board has said that Paramount’s deal “provides inadequate value and imposes numerous significant risks and costs on WBD.” The battle is not completely over, as Paramount is trying to win back WBD’s shareholders “with superior value and a faster, more certain path to completion than the Netflix transaction.” For now, though, Netflix has won, and it seems more likely that their deal with Warner Bros. Discovery will actually go through.