NEW YORK (AP) — Paramount on Monday launched a hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, initiating a potentially bruising battle with Netflix for the company behind HBO, CNN and DC Studios, and the right to reshape much of the nation's entertainment landscape.
Emerging just days after Netflix reached a $72 billion deal to acquire Warner Bros., the takeover attempt means Paramount will go straight to Warner shareholders with a bid worth about $74.4 billion, or $30 per share in cash.
Unlike Netflix, Paramount is also offering to buy the cable television assets of Warner Bros. Paramount executives said their offer is worth about $18 billion more than the competing bid from Netflix, which they said is based on an “illusory prospective valuation" of those cable assets.
It is the same bid that Warner Brothers had earlier rejected in favor of the offer from Netflix.
Paramount criticized the Netflix offer, saying it exposes shareholders "to a protracted multi-jurisdictional regulatory clearance process with an uncertain outcome along with a complex and volatile mix of equity and cash.”
Paramount said it had submitted six proposals to Warner Bros. over a 12-week period.
“We believe our offer will create a stronger Hollywood. It is in the best interests of the creative community, consumers and the movie theater industry," Paramount Chairman and CEO David Ellison said in a statement. "We believe they will benefit from the enhanced competition, higher content spend and theatrical release output, and a greater number of movies in theaters as a result of our proposed transaction.”
On Friday, Netflix struck a deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, the Hollywood giant behind “Harry Potter” and HBO Max. The cash and stock deal is valued at $27.75 per Warner share, giving it a total enterprise value of $82.7 billion, including debt.
The transaction is expected to close in the next 12 to 18 months, after Warner completes its previously announced separation of its cable operations. Not included in the deal are networks such as CNN and Discovery.
But President Donald Trump said Sunday that the Netflix deal “could be a problem” because of the size of the combined market share.
The Republican president said he will be involved in the decision about whether the federal government should approve the deal.
Usha Haley, a Wichita State University professor who specializes in international business strategy, said Paramount’s ties to Trump are notable. Ellison is the son of longtime Trump supporter Larry Ellison, the world’s second-richest person.
“He said he’s going to be involved in the decision. We should take him at face value,” Haley said of Trump. “For him, it’s just greater control over the media."
In October, Paramount said it bought the news and commentary website The Free Press and installed its 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.
It was a bold step for the television network of Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather and “60 Minutes,” long viewed by many conservatives as the personification of a liberal media establishment. The network placed someone in a leadership role who has a reputation for resisting orthodoxy and fighting “woke” culture.
Paramount's tender offer is set to expire on Jan. 8, 2026, unless it's extended.
Shares of Warner Bros. and Paramount jumped between 5% and 6% at the opening bell Monday. Shares of Netflix edged lower.
AP National Writer Matt Sedensky and AP Media Writer David Bauder contributed to this story.
The Warner Bros. water tower is seen at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif., Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
The Warner Bros. water tower is seen at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif., Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) — Nominees for the 2026 Golden Globe Awards have been announced and “One Battle After Another” is this year's leading nominee.
Here's the list of who's nominated for this year's awards, which will be held Jan. 11 at the Beverly Hilton. Nikki Glaser will host the ceremony.
“Frankenstein”; “Hamnet”; “It Was Just An Accident”; “The Secret Agent”; “Sentimental Value”; “Sinners.”
“Blue Moon”; “Bugonia”; “Marty Supreme”; “No Other Choice”; “Nouvelle Vague ”; “One Battle After Another.”
Jessie Buckley, “Hamnet”; Jennifer Lawrence, “Die My Love”; Renate Reinsve, “Sentimental Value”; Julia Roberts, “After the Hunt”; Tessa Thompson, “Hedda”; Eva Victor, “Sorry Baby.”
Joel Edgerton, “Train Dreams”; Oscar Isaac, “Frankenstein”; Dwayne Johnson, “The Smashing Machine”; Michael B. Jordan, “Sinners”; Wagner Moura, “The Secret Agent”; Jeremy Allen White, “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere.”
Rose Byrne, “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You”; Cynthia Erivo, “Wicked: For Good”; Kate Hudson, “Song Sung Blue”; Chase Infiniti, “One Battle After Another”; Amanda Seyfried, “The Testament of Ann Lee”; Emma Stone, “Bugonia.”
Timothée Chalamet, “Marty Supreme”; George Clooney, “Jay Kelly”; Leonardo DiCaprio, “One Battle After Another”; Ethan Hawke, “Blue Moon”; Lee Byung-hun, “No Other Choice”; Jesse Plemons, “Bugonia.”
Emily Blunt, “The Smashing Machine”; Elle Fanning, “Sentimental Value”; Ariana Grande, “Wicked: For Good”; Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, “Sentimental Value”; Amy Madigan, “Weapons”; Teyana Taylor, “One Battle After Another.”
Benicio Del Toro, “One Battle After Another”; Jacob Elordi, “Frankenstein”; Paul Mescal, “Hamnet”; Sean Penn, “One Battle After Another”; Adam Sandler, “Jay Kelly”; Stellan Skarsgård, “Sentimental Value.”
“Avatar: Fire and Ash”; “F1”; “KPop Demon Hunters”; “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning”; “Sinners”; “Weapons”; “Wicked: For Good”; “Zootopia 2.”
“It Was Just an Accident,” France; “No Other Choice,” South Korea; “The Secret Agent,” Brazil; “Sentimental Value,” Norway; “Sirāt,” Spain; “The Voice of Hind Rajab,” Tunisia.
“Arco”; “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle”; “Elio”; “KPop Demon Hunters”; Little Amélie or the Character of Rain”; “Zootopia 2.”
Paul Thomas Anderson, “One Battle After Another”; Ryan Coogler, “Sinners”; Guillermo del Toro, “Frankenstein”; Jafar Panahi, “It Was Just an Accident”; Joachim Trier, “Sentimental Value”; Chloé Zhao, “Hamnet.”
“One Battle After Another,” Paul Thomas Anderson; “Marty Supreme,” Ronald Bronstein and Josh Safdie; “Sinners,” Ryan Coogler; “It Was Just an Accident,” Jafar Panahi; “Sentimental Value,” Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier; “Hamnet,” Chloé Zhao and Maggie O’Farrell.
“Frankenstein,” Alexandre Desplat; “Sinners,” Ludwig Göransson; “One Battle After Another,” Jonny Greenwood; “Sirāt,” Kangding Ray; “Hamnet,” Max Richter; “F1,” Hans Zimmer.
“Dream as One,” from “Avatar: Fire and Ash”; “Golden,” from “KPop Demon Hunters”; “I Lied to You,” from “Sinners”; “No Place Like Home,” from “Wicked: For Good”; “The Girl in the Bubble,” from “Wicked: For Good”; “Train Dreams,” from “Train Dreams.”
“The Diplomat”; “The Pitt”; “Pluribus”; “Severance”; “Slow Horses”; “The White Lotus.”
“Abbott Elementary”; “The Bear”; “Hacks”; “Nobody Wants This”; “Only Murders in the Building”; “The Studio.”
Kathy Bates, “Matlock”; Britt Lower, “Severance”; Helen Mirren, “Mobland”; Bella Ramsey, “The Last of Us”; Keri Russell, “The Diplomat”; Rhea Seehorn, “Pluribus.”
Sterling K. Brown, “Paradise”; Diego Luna, “Andor”; Gary Oldman, “Slow Horses”; Mark Ruffalo, “Task”; Adam Scott, “Severance”; Noah Wyle, “The Pitt.”
Kristen Bell, “Nobody Wants This”; Ayo Edebiri, “The Bear”; “Selena Gomez, “Only Murders in the Building”; Natasha Lyonne, “Poker Face”; Jenna Ortega, “Wednesday”; Jean Smart, “Hacks.”
Adam Brody, “Nobody Wants This”; Steve Martin, “Only Murders in the Building”; Glen Powell, “Chad Powers”; Seth Rogen, “The Studio”; Martin Short, “Only Murders in the Building”; Jeremy Allen White, “The Bear.”
“Adolescence”; “All Her Fault”; “The Beast in Me”; “Black Mirror”; “The Girlfriend”; “Dying for Sex.”
Jacob Elordi, “The Narrow Road to the Deep North”; Paul Giamatti, “Black Mirror”; Stephen Graham, “Adolescence”; Charlie Hunnam, “Monster: The Ed Gein Story”; Jude Law, “Black Rabbit”; Matthew Rhys, “The Beast in Me.”
Claire Danes, “The Beast in Me”; Rashida Jones, “Black Mirror”; Amanda Seyfried, “Long Bright River”; Sarah Snook, “All Her Fault”; Michelle Williams, “Dying for Sex”; Robin Wright, “The Girlfriend.”
Carrie Coon, “The White Lotus”; Erin Doherty, “Adolescence”; Hannah Einbinder, “Hacks”; Catherine O’Hara, “The Studio”; Parker Posey, “The White Lotus”; Aimee Lou Wood, “The White Lotus.”
Owen Cooper, “Adolescence”; Billy Crudup, “The Morning Show”; Walton Goggins, “The White Lotus”; Jason Isaacs, “The White Lotus”; Tramell Tillman, “Severance”; Ashley Walters, “Adolescence.”
Bill Maher, “Is Anyone Else Seeing This?”; Brett Goldstein, “The Second Best Night of Your Life”; Kevin Hart, “Acting My Age”; Kumail Nanjiani, “Night Thoughts”; Ricky Gervais, “Mortality”; Sarah Silverman, “PostMortem.”
“Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard”; “Call Her Daddy”; “Good Hang with Amy Poehler”; “The Mel Robbins Podcast”; " SmartLess”; “Up First from NPR.”
For more coverage of the 2026 Golden Globe Awards, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/golden-globe-awards
Skye P. Marshall appears during the nominations announcement for the 83rd Golden Globes on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
