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Warner Bros. Discovery’s board has done the sensible thing and urged shareholders to reject Paramount Skydance’s jab at a hostile takeover, calling the amended $108 billion offer “inadequate” and plainly inferior to the Netflix transaction the company already signed. The board warned that Paramount’s plan lacks the certainty and protections shareholders deserve, and it reiterated its unanimous recommendation to stick with the Netflix deal.
Paramount’s revised bid carried a headline number that sounds large until you look under the hood: the offer relies on an eye-watering amount of debt and a personal guarantee from billionaire Larry Ellison that was apparently meant to paper over financing worries. Warner’s directors rightly flagged the proposal as a risky leveraged buyout that would saddle the company with vast debt and operating restrictions while exposing long-term shareholders to outsized execution risk.
This is exactly why boards exist — to refuse quick paydays that hand control to heavily indebted suitors who threaten the company’s future. Conservatives who believe in stewardship and free enterprise should applaud a board that puts durable shareholder value and operational stability ahead of headline-grabbing theater. Let’s not forget that a structurally broken buyout can destroy jobs, weaken American creative industries, and hollow out the very franchises investors were promised.
At the same time, Americans who care about competition and cultural influence should be skeptical of any deal that further consolidates Big Tech’s grip on entertainment. Netflix’s $82.7 billion offer focused on studios and streaming assets and promises certainty and financing, but it also raises real competition and cultural questions that deserve careful scrutiny from regulators and citizens alike. This fight isn’t just about corporate balance sheets — it’s about who decides what stories reach our children and how American entertainment businesses survive in a global marketplace.
Movie theaters, creators, and everyday moviegoers shouldn’t be collateral damage in a corporate chess match. Trade groups representing cinemas have warned that either path — a Netflix takeover of studios or a Paramount-fueled consolidation — could concentrate too much market power and diminish the theatrical ecosystem that has long supported local jobs and cultural life. Responsible stewardship means protecting competitive markets, not enabling megadeals that concentrate power in too few hands.
Shareholders and patriotic Americans should demand transparency, stronger protections, and a real debate about long-term national interest before any deal is rushed through. The board made the right call by pushing back; now investors should stand firm and insist that any suitor present a clear, credible plan that preserves jobs, creativity, and competition rather than trading the company’s future for short-term headlines. Our industries — and our culture — deserve nothing less.
