Warner Bros.

Overview

Warner Bros. spent its first century becoming a Hollywood institution — founded by four brothers in 1923, a pioneer of synchronized sound, home to the Harry Potter franchise, HBO and DC Studios. The Hindu BusinessLine It spent its 103rd year as the most contested prize in media history. In October 2026, a California federal judge approved the settlement that finally cleared Paramount Skydance’s $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery — ending a bidding war that saw Netflix agree to a $72 billion deal, lose it to a hostile Paramount bid, and walk away. AFP The Hindu BusinessLine

A century of mergers, ending in the biggest one

The studio’s merger history reads like a syllabus of American media consolidation. The Warner brothers’ 1923 founding led to the sound era, the 1990 Time Warner combination, and in 2022 the $43 billion merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery that created Warner Bros. Discovery. The Hindu BusinessLine The endgame began on June 9, 2025, when WBD announced it would split into two companies — streaming and studios on one side, cable on the other — effectively putting the crown jewels on the auction block. The Hindu BusinessLine

The bidding war, week by week

The auction was a three-month siege. On November 18, 2025, WBD’s board told Paramount Skydance it would need to sweeten its bid to $30 a share — valuing the company at $74.34 billion — and three days later WBD received preliminary bids from Paramount, Comcast and Netflix, asking all to improve their offers. The Hindu BusinessLine A second round followed on December 1, including a mostly-cash offer from Netflix, before Paramount accused WBD of running an unfair sale process that favored Netflix, in a letter reported by CNBC on December 4. The Hindu BusinessLine

On December 5, 2025, Netflix agreed to buy WBD’s film and TV studios and streaming division for $72 billion — $27.75 a share, $82.7 billion in enterprise value. The Hindu BusinessLine Four days later, Paramount Skydance — the company run by David Ellison — went hostile with a $108.4 billion all-cash bid at $30 a share. The Hindu BusinessLine WBD’s board rejected the hostile bid on December 17, saying it lacked adequate financing assurances; Paramount responded on December 23 by amending the offer to include a $40.4 billion personal guarantee from Larry Ellison. The Hindu BusinessLine

The fight rolled into 2026: WBD rejected the amended bid on January 7; Paramount sued on January 12 to force disclosure of the Netflix deal’s details and announced plans to nominate its own directors; Netflix amended its bid to an all-cash offer on January 20 and secured unanimous WBD board approval without raising the $82.7 billion price; Paramount extended its hostile tender offer to February 20. The Hindu BusinessLine U.S. senators grilled Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos at a February 3 hearing over the deal’s competitive effects, and Trump — after months of commentary — said on February 5 that he would stay out of the bidding war. The Hindu BusinessLine Netflix declined to raise its offer on February 26, 2026, and the next day WBD agreed to the Paramount Skydance takeover at an $81 billion equity value. The Hindu BusinessLine The Justice Department’s antitrust division cleared the deal on June 12, 2026 — and the Trump administration approved it the same month without demanding business changes, per the AFP wire. The Hindu BusinessLine AFP

The settlement that closed the deal

Twelve states, led by California, had sued to block the merger, arguing it would create a media behemoth capable of driving up film and television prices. AFP On September 21, 2026, Paramount settled with them, and on October 1 U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin signed the consent decree — a five-year package of commitments enforceable by the court. AFP The commitments include 30 theatrical releases a year for the first two years and 32 a year for the three after that, plus a board designed to protect CNN’s editorial independence. AFP

The financing reveals how the deal got done: about $24 billion in equity from the sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, with Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison providing major funding and a personal guarantee. AFP Leadership was settled the same week: Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz — who led the toymaker’s Barbie film-era expansion — was named co-CEO of the combined company, alongside David Ellison. AFP Paramount had won the February 2026 bidding war against Netflix for a stable of assets spanning Warner Bros. Pictures, CNN and HBO Max. AFP

What this profile does not claim

It does not state a final closing date for the merger — the sources read in full cover the settlement approval of October 1, 2026, but not the closing itself. It does not resolve the differing valuations ($72B Netflix offer, $108.4B hostile bid, $81B agreed equity value, $110B total deal size); those are distinct measures reported at different stages. The Hindu BusinessLine AFP And it treats the Trump-era political overlay — the administration’s approval, the White House’s earlier criticism of the Netflix deal — only as reported by the wires, without attributing motives. AFP