NEW YORK (AP) — Warner Bros. Discovery's friendly agreement to sell itself to Netflix just got upended by a hostile actor -- Paramount, which made Warner shareholders a higher offer and touched off what is likely to be a lengthy fight in the latest episode of media industry consolidation.
The bid comes after Warner last week agreed to be bought by Netflix for $72 billion.
The competing offers set the stage for combining some of the most beloved entertainment properties. Netflix’s vast library includes “Stranger Things” and “Squid Game," while the much smaller Paramount owns its Hollywood studio and major TV networks like CBS and MTV. Both covet Warner, which owns Warner Bros. Pictures, HBO and the Harry Potter franchise.
"Whichever media company, if any, ultimately secures (Warner), controls the calculus of the streaming wars and so much more,” said Mike Proulx, vice president and research director at research firm Forrester.
Both offers will face regulatory scrutiny, an issue President Donald Trump has already weighed in on.
Here's what to know about the three players and what the bids mean for the entertainment industry.
CEO David Zaslav has been seeking offers for Warner Bros. Discovery since at least October, when he said the company might be open to selling all or parts of its business.
Paramount said Monday it had submitted six proposals to Warner over a 12 week period before its offer was rejected in favor of Netflix.
So Paramount decided to go straight to Warner shareholders with a bid worth about $74.4 billion, or $30 per share in cash. Paramount, unlike Netflix, is also offering to buy the cable assets of Warner, and asking shareholders of the company to reject the Netflix bid.
Paramount CEO Larry Ellison said the offer is worth about $18 billion more in cash than the competing cash-and-stock bid from Netflix.
The Paramount deal includes help from investors such as Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and funds controlled by the governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, according to a regulatory filing.
Netflix is offering a combination of cash and stock valued at $27.75 per Warner share. Its offer values Warner at $72 billion, excluding debt, but it is not bidding on Warner-owned networks such as CNN and Discovery.
Before Paramount's bid, the Netflix deal was expected to close in the next 12 to 18 months, after Warner completes its previously announced separation of its cable operations.
Matthew Dolgin, senior equity analyst at research firm Morningstar, said there are still many unknowns, including whether Netflix will now sweeten its bid.
But, he said, a competing offer makes it more likely that Warner will eventually be acquired.
“With Paramount now also being involved formally with an offer to shareholders, it’s even more likely to us that Warner gets acquired, because it’s no longer a single decision that may or may not hinge on regulatory approval,” he said.
Shareholders have until Jan. 8, 2026, to vote on Paramount’s tender offer.
Another wild card could be President Trump. He already weighed in on Sunday, saying the deal struck by Netflix to buy Warner “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.
Paramount's CEO is the son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, an ally of Trump. Federal regulators under Trump approved Paramount’s $8 billion merger with Skydance in July.
On the Netflix offer, state or federal regulators could be most concerned about the massive size of a combined Netflix and Warner subscription service, said Morningstar's Dolgin. Netflix is already the world’s largest streaming service.
That's less of a concern with the Paramount deal, because its streaming service is smaller and has less of an international footprint than Netflix. But regulators may raise red flags over the combination of the Paramount and Warner film and television studios, because relatively few of those remain, Dolgin said.
As the streaming landscape has matured, more media companies are seeking growth through acquisitions.
Warner Bros. Discovery itself was created in 2022 when U.S. telecom giant AT&T Inc. spun off and then combined its WarnerMedia operations with Discovery Inc.
In 2021, Amazon said it would buy MGM, the movie and TV studio behind James Bond, “Legally Blonde” and “Shark Tank." Disney bought Fox's entertainment service in 2019.
“Technology always faces this pattern of startups, lots of different players, legacy companies getting in on the action, and then ultimately lots of consolidation,” said Forrester's Proulx. “And this is the state that we’re in right now in the streaming wars saga, and in 2026 we’ll see continued consolidation.”
The Warner Bros. water tower is seen at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif., Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
SURIN, Thailand (AP) — Cambodia’s powerful Senate President Hun Sen on Tuesday vowed that his country would carry out a fierce fight against Thailand as a second day of widespread renewed combat between the Southeast Asian neighbors drove tens of thousands of people to flee border areas.
Fighting broke out following a skirmish on Sunday during which two Thai soldiers were injured, derailing a ceasefire that ended fighting over competing territorial claims in July. The five days of fighting then left dozens dead on both sides, and forced the evacuation of over 100,000 civilians.
In a sign that neither side was willing to back down, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said Tuesday that Cambodia had not yet contacted Thailand about possible negotiations and the fighting would continue.
“We’ve got to do what we’ve got to do,” he said. “The government will support all kinds of military operations as planned earlier.” He had said Monday that military action was necessary to safeguard the nation’s sovereignty and ensure public safety.
In a statement posted to Facebook and Telegram, Hun Sen claimed that his country had refrained from retaliating on Monday, but overnight began to fire back at Thai forces, saying Cambodia would "weaken and destroy enemy forces through counterattacks.”
Thailand’s military said Cambodia attacked Thai positions with artillery and rocket and drone attacks on Tuesday. Thailand says that Cambodian forces also fired at its troops Sunday and Monday, but each side blames the other for firing the first shots.
“Cambodia wants peace, but Cambodia is forced to fight back to defend its territory,” Hun Sen wrote. He was Cambodia’s long-serving prime minister until 2023, when he was succeeded by his son Hun Manet, but is still widely seen as the country’s de facto leader.
Cambodia’s military announced Tuesday that the new fighting had killed seven civilians and wounded 20. A Thai military spokesperson announced Tuesday that three soldiers have been killed in the new fighting.
Thailand on Monday carried out airstrikes along the frontier, which it said were a defensive action targeting military installations. Thai military spokesperson Rear Adm. Surasant Kongsiri said Tuesday that such operations would continue “until attacks stop.”
Ordinary citizens meanwhile had to deal with life after being relocated from the danger zones.
An evacuation shelter at a university in Thailand's northeastern city of Surin is hosting more than 3,600 people. Evacuees sit or lie on thin mats spread across the floor, and several have set up small tents in their allotted areas as sleeping spaces.
At lunchtime, some line up with their own plates to receive cooked rice, while others wait in place to be served ready-to-eat meals packed in small plastic bags. An army band plays for their entertainment.
Portable fans cool them during the day. Blankets, in piles beside them, keep them warm at night, when temperatures can fall to as low as 18 C (64 F).
“We were preparing to evacuate. We hadn’t left yet. But when we heard shots we hurried out immediately," cassava farmer Pan-ngam Kanchangthong told The Associated Press. "I was scared. Who wouldn’t be scared of shelling?”
The Thai army said almost 500 temporary shelters have been set up in four border provinces, accommodating 125,838 people. Additional refugees from the fighting are expected to stay with relatives in safe areas.
Evacuees on the Cambodian side had similar experiences.
“I felt terrified when I heard the sound of the explosion from the shelling. At that time, I was working at the garment factory," said 44-year-old Vach Neang, a father of seven.
“I called my wife and my kids but couldn't reach them, and by that time the sound of explosions was getting louder, so the factory owner let us go home," said Vach Neang, speaking at a former market in Cambodia’s northwestern province of Banteay Meanchey that has been repurposed as a shelter, He added that he packed just a few clothes before leaving his home.
Cambodian Information Minister Neth Pheaktra said almost 55,000 people have been evacuated and the numbers are mounting.
Thailand and Cambodia have a history of enmity over centuries and experience periodic tensions along their land border of more than 800 kilometers (500 miles). Centuries ago both were powerful empires, but Thailand's size and greater development over the past century give it the military advantage.
Some of the disputed territory hosts centuries-old temples that both nations covet as part of their legacy.
The ceasefire that ended July’s fighting was brokered by Malaysia and pushed through by pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges from the two nations unless they agreed to it.
A more detailed agreement signed in October called for removing heavy weapons from the border; desisting from disseminating false information and harmful rhetoric; implementing measures to restore mutual trust; and coordinating operations to remove land mines.
None of these actions appear to have been fully implemented by either side. After the ceasefire, both nations continued to fight a bitter propaganda war using disinformation, alongside minor outbreaks of cross-border violence.
A major Cambodian complaint has been that Thailand continues to hold 18 prisoners who were taken captive the same day the ceasefire went into effect. Thailand claims they approached its positions in a threatening manner, an allegation denied by Phnom Penh.
Meanwhile, Thailand accuses Cambodia of laying new land mines in the areas under dispute, in several cases maiming Thai soldiers. Cambodia says the mines are left over from decades of civil war that ended in 1999.
The mines issue caused Thailand to declare earlier this month that it was indefinitely pausing implementation of the details of the ceasefire until Cambodia apologized for the latest incident wounding Thai soldiers.
A previous version of this story incorrectly reported that a Thai soldier was killed during a skirmish on Sunday. Two Thai soldiers were injured during the skirmish on Sunday, according to the Thai military, but none were reported killed.
Sopheng Cheang reported from Mongkol Borey, Cambodia.
Thai people, who fled clashes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers, takes shelter in Buriram province, Thailand. Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
A Thai Buddhist monk uses his computer while taking shelter in Buriram province, Thailand, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, after he fled clashes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
Thai residents, who fled clashes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers, takes shelter in Buriram province, Thailand, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
In this photo released by Agence Kampuchea Press (AKP), Cambodian villagers sit on tractors as they flee from the home in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AKP via AP)
A Thai resident who fled clashes between Thai and Cambodian soldiers, uses mobile phone while taking shelter in Buriram province, Thailand, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
