Paramount Rushmore

“Paramount Skydance on Monday launched a hostile bid worth $108.4 billion for Warner Bros Discovery, in a last-ditch effort to outbid Netflix and create a media powerhouse that would challenge the dominance of the streaming giant.” The hostile bidders have a few things going for them when it comes to getting administration approval: The Ellisons, Jared Kushner, and the backing of several Middle Eastern government-run investment funds. The gang’s all here. Warner Bros fight heats up with $108 billion hostile bid from Paramount. Neither of these deals will be particularly good for consumers. So we’re left to root for the least bad option. Welcome to 2025.

+ Deal points, competition, and societal good aside, it is remarkable that Netflix has risen to the point where it can buy Warner Bros. I discussed this last week. “I didn’t know it at the time, but the future of entertainment depended on a single data point shared with me over a cup of coffee in the 90s.”