- Paramount Skydance's $30 per share bid has just topped Netflix's $27.75 per share bid, injecting fresh propulsion on Warner Brothers Discovery stock.
- Investors have to weigh cash only vs cash-plus-stock bids, each of which has pros and cons.
- Regulatory hurdles remain a threat to both deals.
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) stock has seen a big jump, propelled by not just from a single offer, but from a bidding war between Netflix and Paramount Skydance. We discuss how this could play out and its implications on the Warner Bros stock price.
How Neflix Bid Triggered Warner Bros. Stock Rally
Netflix’s offer, valued at $27.75 per share in a mix of cash and stock, landed like a bombshell on December 5, sending WBD shares surging 12% that day alone on blockbuster volume of nearly 199 million shares, per Polygon market data. The deal targets HBO Max, Warner Bros. Pictures, and DC Studios, aiming to consolidate Netflix’s content empire amid streaming wars fatigue.
But just a few days later, on December 8, Paramount Skydance came in with an unsolicited all-cash bid of $30 per share for the whole company. They went straight to the shareholders, bypassing WBD’s management, and included cable networks like CNN and TBS, which the Netflix bid excluded. This has created a more dramatic twist.
Is the Rally Sustainable?
The current strong price momentum for WBD is highly conditional and, in its present form, unsustainable once a definitive outcome is reached. The stock’s current price acts as a proxy for the highest bid, plus a discount for the risk of the deal falling apart. Therefore, the price will remain elevated and volatile only as long as the bidding war is active.
What Are the Risks?
What makes this uptrend feel precarious? First, antitrust shadows: The New York Times flagged how Netflix acquiring a key supplier like Warner could squeeze rivals and creators, echoing past DOJ scrutiny on vertical integrations. CNN highlighted Warner as Netflix’s major content vendor, raising monopoly fears in a Trump-led landscape that’s pro-business but not deal-proof.
Second, there could be financing hurdles Paramount’s cash offer sounds good, but there are concerns about how they will pay for it, considering Skydance’s debt. If the bids fall through, WBD could go back to where it was before any rumors. The company’s Q3 2025 filings showed streaming subscriptions were flat at 99 million, and ad revenue was down 5%.
The current elevated price reflects the market’s expectation of an eventual sale at a premium over its previous trading levels, a dynamic driven entirely by the competition between Netflix and Paramount Skydance. The market could gain confidence that the best offer will pass regulatory muster, locking in the value for shareholders. However, if both bids are withdrawn or fail due to regulatory concerns, Warner Brothers could be forced back to its standalone valuation, which many analysts believe is significantly lower.
Netflix vs Paramount Bids
The Netflix deal is complex as WBD has to spin off its Global Networks first before Netflix buys the rest. This adds some risk. Paramount’s all-cash bid for the whole company is simpler but needs a lot of debt financing ($54 billion), which comes with its own financial risks.
The WBD board likes the Netflix deal better. They say that spinning off the cable networks into a separate company would give WBD shareholders more value, maybe even more than Paramount’s full-company offer. If the market disagrees with WBD’s projected value of the spin-off, shareholders may regret not taking the all-cash offer.
Warner Bros Stock Price Outlook
The $27.75 level now acts as a support level following the Netflix announcement, while the $30 level is the new resistance level marked by the Paramount bid. If the stock price goes above $30, it could mean that someone expects the bid to go higher. Conversely, if it drops below the Netflix offer price, it would suggest that the market has doubts about whether the deal will actually happen.
The stock jumped because Paramount Skydance made a hostile, all-cash offer of $30 per share for the whole company. This is in response to Netflix’s initial offer of $27.75 in cash and stock for just the streaming and studio parts.
The main worry is that regulators might block the deal. Since this deal, especially the Netflix bid, combines a huge part of the market, it’s getting a lot of antitrust attention from regulators in the U.S. and Europe. This could make the acquisition collapse entirely.
The $30 per share is the top, all-cash offer currently out there from Paramount Skydance. It’s basically the highest the stock will go for now, since shareholders shouldn’t sell for less than the best offer they know about.
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