Washington: Paramount has lodged a $US108 billion ($163 billion) hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros, including its film studio and streaming brands, upsetting a seemingly done deal that would have seen Netflix buy the company following a months-long bidding war.

Paramount Skydance is offering Warner Bros shareholders $US30 cash a share in a deal that includes finance from Middle Eastern sources including the sovereign wealth funds for Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, as well as Affinity Partners, the investment firm owned by President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Those partners agreed to forgo any governance rights, including board representation, associated with their investments, Paramount said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“We’re really here to finish what we started,” Paramount chief executive David Ellison told CNBC on Monday morning, New York time. “Our deal is pro-consumer it’s pro-creative talent, it’s pro-competition.”

In a separate statement, Ellison said: “We believe our offer will create a stronger Hollywood. It is in the best interests of the creative community, consumers and the movie theatre industry.”

The offer says 100 per cent of the $US40.7 billion in required equity capital is backstopped by the Ellison family – “one of the wealthiest families in the world” – and RedBird Capital, a part-owner of Paramount Skydance.

The Ellison family is close to Trump, particularly patriarch mega-billionaire Larry Ellison, the founder of tech firm Oracle and a Republican mega-donor. He was at one point the world’s richest man.

Netflix prevailed last week with a $US72 billion offer for Warner Bros Discovery – which owns industry darling HBO – in a seismic deal that would see the movie and television giant acquired by one of its biggest customers to create a powerhouse media conglomerate.

Trump said on Monday that neither Netflix nor Paramount Skydance were great friends of his, after both companies bid for Warner Bros Discovery.

“I know the companies very well. I know what they’re doing, but I have to see, I have to see what percentage of market they have... none of them are particularly great friends of mine,” Trump said at a White House roundtable.

Paramount said its decision to go hostile came after it made several earlier bids that Warner management “never engaged meaningfully” with following the company’s October announcement that it was open to selling itself.

In its appeal to shareholders, Paramount noted its offer also contained $US18 billion more cash than Netflix’s bid, and argued that it was more likely to pass antitrust scrutiny from the Trump administration.

Paramount would also buy Warner Bros’ cable networks CNN and Discovery – assets Netflix did not want, and which were not part of its offer.

Netflix co-chief executive officers Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters told investors at the UBS conference in New York on Monday that they’re “extremely confident” that their deal with Warner Bros would be approved.

“The Warner Bros Discovery acquisition is far from over,” said Ross Benes, an analyst at Emarketer.

“Netflix is in the driver’s seat but there will be twists and turns before the finish line. Paramount will appeal to shareholders, regulators, and politicians to try to stymie Netflix. The battle could become prolonged.”

Paramount agreed to pay Trump $US16 million this year over a 2024 interview with then vice president Kamala Harris on the program 60 Minutes – carried by its network CBS – which Trump sued over, claiming the package was misleadingly edited.

Weeks later, the federal communications regulator approved an $US8 billion merger between Paramount and Skydance.

Overnight, Trump criticised Paramount over a weekend interview with Marjorie Taylor Greene that aired on 60 Minutes.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote: “My real problem with the show, however, wasn’t the low IQ traitor, it was that the new ownership of 60 Minutes, Paramount, would allow a show like this to air.

The bid for Warner Bros comes on the heels of Paramount’s October purchase of the news and commentary website The Free Press. Paramount then installed the site’s founder, Bari Weiss, as the editor-in-chief of CBS News, saying it believes the country longs for news that is balanced and fact-based.

With AP, Bloomberg

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