WSJ : Six Months, 9 Offers and $81 Billion. How Hollywood’s Nasty Takeover Was W

Six Months, 9 Offers and $81 Billion. How Hollywood’s Nasty Takeover Was Won.
Paramount’s David Ellison used his wealth and influence to get Warner

  • Paramount, led by David Ellison, won a bidding war to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery for $81 billion after Netflix withdrew its offer.
  • The acquisition gives the Ellison family control over a vast media empire including HBO, CNN, CBS News, and Warner Bros. studio.
  • Paramount’s stock price rose over 20% and Netflix’s surged nearly 14% on Friday following the announcement of the deal’s conclusion.

For six months, the son of one of the world’s richest men kept hearing the same unfamiliar word: No.

Even before he closed a deal to combine his company with a much bigger one, David Ellison was already plotting to do it again. Once his Skydance Media took control of Paramount PSKY 20.84%increase; green up pointing triangle, he turned his attention to a Hollywood icon, launching an audacious takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery WBD -2.19%decrease; red down pointing triangle that would give the Ellison family control of a sprawling media empire.

His first offer was swatted away. So were his second and third. By the time Ellison made his sixth offer, Warner Chief Executive Officer David Zaslav stopped responding to his texts. Even when Warner officially accepted a rival offer from Netflix NFLX 13.77%increase; green up pointing triangle, Ellison refused to take no for an answer.

As the battle dragged on, Ellison sweetened his offers, ratcheted up the pressure, took the hostile bid directly to shareholders, threatened a bruising proxy fight, brought in President Trump allies to lobby, and treated the existing term sheet like paper waiting to be shredded.

On the ninth offer, the wealth and influence of the Ellisons finally won.

The dramatic bidding war ended on Thursday night, after Paramount made its latest attempt to buy Warner for $81 billion—and Netflix walked away from the deal. Shortly after photographers snapped Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos leaving the White House, the company announced that it wouldn’t match Ellison’s latest offer, which was 63% higher than his first.

And once Netflix dropped its own $72 billion deal for Warner’s studios and HBO Max streaming business, the scion of software billionaire Larry Ellison was poised to become one of the most powerful people in a town that once derided him as a nepo-baby.

Ellison, 43 years old, as Paramount chief executive will now control much of our attention: the shows we watch, the news we consume and the screens we stare at all day long, with a family portfolio that will include HBO, CNN, CBS News, the historic Warner Bros. studio lot and crown jewels such as DC Comics and Harry Potter.

As much as Ellison and his team had been telling anyone who would listen that his business would ultimately prevail in buying a company five times its size, the reaction on Friday from Hollywood to Washington to Wall Street was astonishment.

Paramount’s stock price shot up over 20% on Friday. Netflix’s surged nearly 14%. Politicians howled at the prospect of so much media power being consolidated in the hands of a single family. Thousands of employees across three companies were left wondering what comes next at a time when the future of the entertainment business has rarely been so uncertain.

Even the CEO at the center of the action said he was surprised by the ending.

“We all thought it was going to be Netflix,” Zaslav told staffers in a companywide town hall, adding that the speed of the drama “feels a little whiplashy.”

The deal could take anywhere from six to 18 months to close. Ellison will need to cut a lot of costs to find $6 billion in savings to make the deal work. But that didn’t stop Paramount’s leadership from popping Champagne, which they drank out of paper cups, Thursday afternoon.

Only days earlier Paramount was preparing its next move if it didn’t win. It had a slate of director nominees lined up for a proxy fight and planned to submit them as soon as this past week if Warner refused to accept Paramount’s latest, sweetened offer, according to people familiar with the matter.

Late last Saturday night, Ellison called Zaslav with the structure of the deal that met Warner’s demands. The duo talked again on Sunday and Monday as they scrambled to get as much settled as possible for a Monday midnight deadline to stop talking, people familiar with the matter said. Ellison promised his father would contribute additional funding to satisfy lenders, if needed.

Meanwhile, Netflix executives were discussing standing down. Sarandos and fellow co-CEO Greg Peters had said they would be disciplined on price, and if Paramount was going to increase its offer to $31 a share plus add-ons, the company would likely bow out, said people familiar with the discussions.

Ellison began his quest in earnest with a September visit to Zaslav’s Beverly Hills home, once owned by legendary Paramount studio chief Robert Evans. Ellison proposed a $19-per-share cash-and-stock bid for the company and followed up with a formal letter.

Warner rejected the Ellison overture as inadequate, favoring Zaslav’s existing plan to split the media and entertainment empire in two—one company for the movie and TV studios and HBO Max, the other containing TV networks including CNN and Food Network.

Paramount made two more offers, at one point even offering Zaslav the opportunity to be co-chairman and co-CEO of the combined company with Ellison if a deal happened.

Unpersuaded, Warner in October announced a strategic review, effectively setting up an auction.

Netflix’s Sarandos had told associates that if Warner did go through with spinning off its cable networks, he wanted to make a play for the streaming and studio businesses, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Netflix executives internally have over the years discussed how M&A might help the company grow, which would be a departure from its long-held preference for building rather than buying, said people close to the discussions.

Before Ellison bought Paramount, Netflix had approached former Paramount controlling shareholder Shari Redstone about buying the company’s studio a number of times. But she didn’t want to sell, according to people familiar with the situation. The company had also discussed bidding for MGM, said people familiar with the discussions.

In November, Netflix offered to buy Warner’s studios and HBO Max streaming business. So did Comcast.

In December, Ellison lobbed in his sixth bid, saying Paramount had offered a package that covered all the issues Warner had raised, including the need for “strong cash value” and “speed to close.”

Soon after, Warner declared Netflix victorious. It agreed to sell the key assets for $27.75 a share, or $72 billion.

Three days later, Paramount announced it was taking a tender offer directly to shareholders.

As Ellison doubled down, Warner and Netflix signaled to the market that their deal was moving forward. Warner distributed photos of Zaslav walking the Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank with Sarandos and Peters, smiling in front of the studio’s famed water tower. Paramount executives shared the photos among themselves, and some rolled their eyes over them, according to people close to the company.

Meanwhile, Ellison was making inroads in Washington. He offered assurance to Trump administration officials that if he bought Warner, he’d make sweeping changes to CNN, a common target of President Trump’s ire, The Wall Street Journal first reported.

Just days after going hostile, Ellison sat in President Trump’s box at the Kennedy Center honors. Paramount chief legal officer Makan Delrahim, the former Trump Justice Department antitrust head, oversaw a lobbying campaign that encouraged Republican lawmakers and administration officials to question Netflix’s bid. Delrahim himself ramped up the pressure, touting Paramount’s messaging online and engaging in the deal talks, including by holding meetings with investors.

For his part, Sarandos had been laying the groundwork for the Netflix deal for some time—going back and forth to D.C., said people familiar with the situation. Netflix had hired its own veteran of the first Trump administration, Clete Willems, who had a team of GOP advisers, including Kellyanne Conway and Brian Ballard.

Netflix was working with a deficit of political support from the start, because they could not rely on Democrats, Hollywood’s natural allies. Top Democrats such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) opposed the merger from the start.

In January, Ellison ramped up the pressure. Paramount threatened to run a proxy fight to secure seats on Warner’s board and filed a lawsuit seeking to force Warner to release more information about its deal with Netflix.

Netflix shareholders were steadily losing patience. The company had over $170 billion wiped off its market value since last September, when reports started to surface that it could be a potential bidder for Warner.


Senators from both major political parties grilled Sarandos at a February Judiciary Committee hearing, expressing concern about the market power of a Netflix-Warner tie-up. Sarandos said repeatedly that Netflix was committed to maintaining the Warner Bros. studio theatrical-movie business and planned to continue to operate itself and HBO Max as separate entities.

The tide began to shift in Paramount’s favor in mid-February. Paramount indicated to Warner that it would up its price to $31.

In a key move that helped get Warner’s attention, Paramount amended its proposal to add an unusual takeover provision, what it called a “ticking fee” of 25 cents a share, which it would pay to Warner shareholders for each quarter its deal hasn’t closed, starting January 2027. Paramount said it would pay the $2.8 billion termination fee Warner would owe Netflix if that deal collapsed.

Netflix agreed to allow Warner to discuss Paramount’s latest proposal during a seven-day negotiating period ending on Feb. 23, saying it would clear up the situation once and for all.

After the negotiating window ended, Warner’s board said it determined that Paramount’s newest offer could reasonably be expected to lead in a deal superior to its existing one with Netflix. In addition to raising the price to $31 a share, Paramount increased its regulatory termination fee to $7 billion and accelerated the ticking fee to start after Sept. 30 rather than next year.

In the days before Paramount’s revised bid was submitted, Netflix executives discussed walking away instead of continuing the bidding war, according to people close to the discussions.

Meanwhile, Sarandos forged on with plans to meet with officials in D.C., Thursday, including acting Assistant Attorney General Omeed Assefi.

Sarandos was preparing for a separate meeting with White House officials that day when he got a phone call.

It was Zaslav, and he had bad news for Sarandos. The Warner board had decided Paramount’s latest offer was superior.

Soon after receiving that call, Netflix announced that it was walking away.

On Friday, Paramount paid a breakup fee of $2.8 billion to Netflix.

WSJ : Nvidia Plans New Chip to Speed AI Processing, Shake Up Computing Market

Nvidia Plans New Chip to Speed AI Processing, Shake Up Computing Market
Under pressure from rivals, the chip giant is set to offer a new product focused on rapid processing of AI queries for ‘inference’ demand

  • Nvidia plans to unveil a new processor for AI inference computing, designed to help customers like OpenAI build faster, more efficient tools.
  • The new platform will incorporate a chip designed by startup Groq, with OpenAI agreeing to be one of its largest customers.
  • Nvidia is adapting to a market shift from AI model training to inference, where some see its flagship GPUs as less efficient than new specialized chips.

Nvidia NVDA -4.16%decrease; red down pointing triangle plans to unveil a new processor specially tailored to help OpenAI and other customers build faster, more efficient tools, a major shake-up to its business that is poised to reset the AI race.

The company is designing a new system for “inference” computing, a form of processing that allows AI models to respond to queries, according to people familiar with the plans. The new platform, set to be revealed at Nvidia’s GTC developer conference in San Jose next month, will incorporate a chip designed by the startup Groq, the people said.

Inference computing has been the subject of intense industry competition. Rivals Google and Amazon have designed chips that compete with Nvidia’s flagship systems. And the explosion of autonomous coding in the tech workforce has created demand for new chips that can more efficiently handle complex AI-related tasks.

OpenAI has agreed to become one of the largest customers of the new processor, some of the people said, representing a major win for Nvidia. The ChatGPT maker, which is one of Nvidia’s largest customers, has spent the past few months shopping for more efficient alternatives to Nvidia’s chips, and signed a deal with a chip startup last month that provides it with new options.

Earlier Friday, OpenAI alluded to the new processor when it announced it would sign up for a major purchase of “dedicated inference capacity” from Nvidia, alongside a $30 billion investment from the chip giant. It also signed a major new deal to use Amazon’s Trainium chips.

Nvidia has dominated the business of designing and selling GPUs—graphics processing units—a type of processor that can perform billions of simple tasks simultaneously. But for the first time since the start of the AI boom, it is confronting the limits of its flagship product. As the market shifts towards inference, Nvidia is feeling pressure from some customers to produce chips that can more efficiently power AI applications.

The company’s powerful Hopper, Blackwell and Rubin series GPUs are considered best-in-class for training gigantic AI models and command top prices. Most analysts estimate that Nvidia controls 90% or more of the GPU market.

Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang has long claimed that Nvidia’s GPUs are the market leader for both training and inference, and that such versatility was a key appeal of the product.

But over the past year, demand for advanced computing has shifted from training to inference as companies deploy AI agents and other tools that they hope will upend hundreds of industries and generate enormous profits from subscription fees. Agents are AI systems that act relatively autonomously to carry out tasks on behalf of users.

Many companies that build and operate AI agents find that GPUs are too costly, consume too much energy and aren’t as well-suited to actually running their models. With the meteoric rise of agentic AI, Nvidia is under pressure to develop inference chips that are less expensive and more energy-efficient.

Last month, OpenAI signed a multibillion-dollar computing partnership with Cerebras, which offers an inference-focused chip that its CEO Andrew Feldman says is faster than Nvidia’s GPUs. OpenAI entered into negotiations with Cerebras last fall after its engineers asked for a faster inference chip for agentic coding applications, The Journal previously reported.

Nvidia agreed to pay $20 billion late last year to license key technologies from Groq and hire its top leadership, including founder Jonathan Ross, in one of Silicon Valley’s largest-ever “acqui-hire” deals, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Groq designed chips that use a different architecture from Nvidia’s, called “language processing units,” which are highly efficient for inference functions. So far, however, Nvidia has kept mum about how it intends to use Groq’s technology.

AI inference computing is divided into two main tasks: pre-fill, or the process by which a model interprets a user prompt, and decode, by which the model generates a response, one word at a time. Pre-fill is usually the faster of the two processes, while decode tends to be especially slow, for larger AI models.

Coding applications have emerged as one of the most important—and profitable—uses of enterprise AI, with Anthropic’s Claude Code generally regarded as the market leader. But Anthropic relies primarily on chips designed by Amazon Web Services and Alphabet’s Google Cloud unit, rather than by Nvidia, to power its models.

One of Claude’s closest competitors, however, is OpenAI’s fast-growing Codex tool. The ChatGPT-maker plans to use the new Nvidia system to improve Codex, people familiar with the matter said.

Typically, Nvidia has paired its Vera chips, which are central processing units, or CPUs, with its Rubin GPUs in powerful data center servers, but some large customers have found that certain agentic AI workloads can be run more efficiently on CPUs alone.

This month, Nvidia announced an expanded partnership with Meta Platforms that included the first-ever significant CPU-only deployment to support Meta’s ad-targeting AI agents. The deal offered an early window into Nvidia’s strategy to look beyond the GPU to lock up pockets of the AI market.

WSJ : Six Months, 9 Offers and $81 Billion. How Hollywood’s Nasty Takeover Was W

Six Months, 9 Offers and $81 Billion. How Hollywood’s Nasty Takeover Was Won.
Paramount’s David Ellison used his wealth and influence to get Warner

Paramount, led by David Ellison, won a bidding war to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery for $81 billion after Netflix withdrew its offer.
The acquisition gives the Ellison family control over a vast media empire including HBO, CNN, CBS News, and Warner Bros. studio.
Paramount’s stock price rose over 20% and Netflix’s surged nearly 14% on Friday following the announcement of the deal’s conclusion.

For six months, the son of one of the world’s richest men kept hearing the same unfamiliar word: No.

Even before he closed a deal to combine his company with a much bigger one, David Ellison was already plotting to do it again. Once his Skydance Media took control of Paramount PSKY 20.84%increase; green up pointing triangle, he turned his attention to a Hollywood icon, launching an audacious takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery WBD -2.19%decrease; red down pointing triangle that would give the Ellison family control of a sprawling media empire.

His first offer was swatted away. So were his second and third. By the time Ellison made his sixth offer, Warner Chief Executive Officer David Zaslav stopped responding to his texts. Even when Warner officially accepted a rival offer from Netflix NFLX 13.77%increase; green up pointing triangle, Ellison refused to take no for an answer.

As the battle dragged on, Ellison sweetened his offers, ratcheted up the pressure, took the hostile bid directly to shareholders, threatened a bruising proxy fight, brought in President Trump allies to lobby, and treated the existing term sheet like paper waiting to be shredded.

On the ninth offer, the wealth and influence of the Ellisons finally won.

The dramatic bidding war ended on Thursday night, after Paramount made its latest attempt to buy Warner for $81 billion—and Netflix walked away from the deal. Shortly after photographers snapped Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos leaving the White House, the company announced that it wouldn’t match Ellison’s latest offer, which was 63% higher than his first.

And once Netflix dropped its own $72 billion deal for Warner’s studios and HBO Max streaming business, the scion of software billionaire Larry Ellison was poised to become one of the most powerful people in a town that once derided him as a nepo-baby.

Ellison, 43 years old, as Paramount chief executive will now control much of our attention: the shows we watch, the news we consume and the screens we stare at all day long, with a family portfolio that will include HBO, CNN, CBS News, the historic Warner Bros. studio lot and crown jewels such as DC Comics and Harry Potter.

As much as Ellison and his team had been telling anyone who would listen that his business would ultimately prevail in buying a company five times its size, the reaction on Friday from Hollywood to Washington to Wall Street was astonishment.

Paramount’s stock price shot up over 20% on Friday. Netflix’s surged nearly 14%. Politicians howled at the prospect of so much media power being consolidated in the hands of a single family. Thousands of employees across three companies were left wondering what comes next at a time when the future of the entertainment business has rarely been so uncertain.

Even the CEO at the center of the action said he was surprised by the ending.

“We all thought it was going to be Netflix,” Zaslav told staffers in a companywide town hall, adding that the speed of the drama “feels a little whiplashy.”

The deal could take anywhere from six to 18 months to close. Ellison will need to cut a lot of costs to find $6 billion in savings to make the deal work. But that didn’t stop Paramount’s leadership from popping Champagne, which they drank out of paper cups, Thursday afternoon.

Only days earlier Paramount was preparing its next move if it didn’t win. It had a slate of director nominees lined up for a proxy fight and planned to submit them as soon as this past week if Warner refused to accept Paramount’s latest, sweetened offer, according to people familiar with the matter.

Late last Saturday night, Ellison called Zaslav with the structure of the deal that met Warner’s demands. The duo talked again on Sunday and Monday as they scrambled to get as much settled as possible for a Monday midnight deadline to stop talking, people familiar with the matter said. Ellison promised his father would contribute additional funding to satisfy lenders, if needed.

Meanwhile, Netflix executives were discussing standing down. Sarandos and fellow co-CEO Greg Peters had said they would be disciplined on price, and if Paramount was going to increase its offer to $31 a share plus add-ons, the company would likely bow out, said people familiar with the discussions.

Ellison began his quest in earnest with a September visit to Zaslav’s Beverly Hills home, once owned by legendary Paramount studio chief Robert Evans. Ellison proposed a $19-per-share cash-and-stock bid for the company and followed up with a formal letter.

Warner rejected the Ellison overture as inadequate, favoring Zaslav’s existing plan to split the media and entertainment empire in two—one company for the movie and TV studios and HBO Max, the other containing TV networks including CNN and Food Network.

Paramount made two more offers, at one point even offering Zaslav the opportunity to be co-chairman and co-CEO of the combined company with Ellison if a deal happened.

Unpersuaded, Warner in October announced a strategic review, effectively setting up an auction.

Netflix’s Sarandos had told associates that if Warner did go through with spinning off its cable networks, he wanted to make a play for the streaming and studio businesses, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Netflix executives internally have over the years discussed how M&A might help the company grow, which would be a departure from its long-held preference for building rather than buying, said people close to the discussions.

Before Ellison bought Paramount, Netflix had approached former Paramount controlling shareholder Shari Redstone about buying the company’s studio a number of times. But she didn’t want to sell, according to people familiar with the situation. The company had also discussed bidding for MGM, said people familiar with the discussions.

In November, Netflix offered to buy Warner’s studios and HBO Max streaming business. So did Comcast.

In December, Ellison lobbed in his sixth bid, saying Paramount had offered a package that covered all the issues Warner had raised, including the need for “strong cash value” and “speed to close.”

Soon after, Warner declared Netflix victorious. It agreed to sell the key assets for $27.75 a share, or $72 billion.

Three days later, Paramount announced it was taking a tender offer directly to shareholders.

As Ellison doubled down, Warner and Netflix signaled to the market that their deal was moving forward. Warner distributed photos of Zaslav walking the Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank with Sarandos and Peters, smiling in front of the studio’s famed water tower. Paramount executives shared the photos among themselves, and some rolled their eyes over them, according to people close to the company.

Meanwhile, Ellison was making inroads in Washington. He offered assurance to Trump administration officials that if he bought Warner, he’d make sweeping changes to CNN, a common target of President Trump’s ire, The Wall Street Journal first reported.

Just days after going hostile, Ellison sat in President Trump’s box at the Kennedy Center honors. Paramount chief legal officer Makan Delrahim, the former Trump Justice Department antitrust head, oversaw a lobbying campaign that encouraged Republican lawmakers and administration officials to question Netflix’s bid. Delrahim himself ramped up the pressure, touting Paramount’s messaging online and engaging in the deal talks, including by holding meetings with investors.

For his part, Sarandos had been laying the groundwork for the Netflix deal for some time—going back and forth to D.C., said people familiar with the situation. Netflix had hired its own veteran of the first Trump administration, Clete Willems, who had a team of GOP advisers, including Kellyanne Conway and Brian Ballard.

Netflix was working with a deficit of political support from the start, because they could not rely on Democrats, Hollywood’s natural allies. Top Democrats such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) opposed the merger from the start.

In January, Ellison ramped up the pressure. Paramount threatened to run a proxy fight to secure seats on Warner’s board and filed a lawsuit seeking to force Warner to release more information about its deal with Netflix.

Netflix shareholders were steadily losing patience. The company had over $170 billion wiped off its market value since last September, when reports started to surface that it could be a potential bidder for Warner.


Senators from both major political parties grilled Sarandos at a February Judiciary Committee hearing, expressing concern about the market power of a Netflix-Warner tie-up. Sarandos said repeatedly that Netflix was committed to maintaining the Warner Bros. studio theatrical-movie business and planned to continue to operate itself and HBO Max as separate entities.

The tide began to shift in Paramount’s favor in mid-February. Paramount indicated to Warner that it would up its price to $31.

In a key move that helped get Warner’s attention, Paramount amended its proposal to add an unusual takeover provision, what it called a “ticking fee” of 25 cents a share, which it would pay to Warner shareholders for each quarter its deal hasn’t closed, starting January 2027. Paramount said it would pay the $2.8 billion termination fee Warner would owe Netflix if that deal collapsed.

Netflix agreed to allow Warner to discuss Paramount’s latest proposal during a seven-day negotiating period ending on Feb. 23, saying it would clear up the situation once and for all.

After the negotiating window ended, Warner’s board said it determined that Paramount’s newest offer could reasonably be expected to lead in a deal superior to its existing one with Netflix. In addition to raising the price to $31 a share, Paramount increased its regulatory termination fee to $7 billion and accelerated the ticking fee to start after Sept. 30 rather than next year.

In the days before Paramount’s revised bid was submitted, Netflix executives discussed walking away instead of continuing the bidding war, according to people close to the discussions.

Meanwhile, Sarandos forged on with plans to meet with officials in D.C., Thursday, including acting Assistant Attorney General Omeed Assefi.

Sarandos was preparing for a separate meeting with White House officials that day when he got a phone call.

It was Zaslav, and he had bad news for Sarandos. The Warner board had decided Paramount’s latest offer was superior.

Soon after receiving that call, Netflix announced that it was walking away.

On Friday, Paramount paid a breakup fee of $2.8 billion to Netflix.