What Netflix vs Paramount’s $100bn clash means for Gulf media, licensing and content access

In what is swiftly becoming the most dramatic takeover contest in media history, Paramount Skydance has launched a hostile, all-cash bid for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), directly challenging Netflix’s blockbuster acquisition agreement.

Two radically different blueprints for WBD

On December 5, 2025, Netflix announced a deal to acquire WBD’s studios, streaming services and content libraries, including HBO/HBO Max, DC Entertainment/DC Studios, and Warner Bros. production, in a cash-and-stock agreement valued at roughly $82.7bn enterprise value (≈ $72bn billion equity value). Under the deal, WBD linear-TV networks (cable and traditional channels) would be spun off into a separate entity.

Just days later (December 8), Paramount Skydance, under CEO David Ellison, counter-punched with a hostile takeover bid offering $30 per share in cash, valuing the full company (studios, streaming, and cable networks) at $108.4bn, including debt.

According to Business Insider, Paramount argues its all-cash offer delivers superior value, regulatory certainty, and a simpler path to closing, compared with Netflix’s mixed cash-and-stock proposal and planned asset carve-out.

Why the battle matters for the media business and beyond

A successful Netflix–WBD merger would create a global streaming powerhouse with unmatched libraries — combining legacy studio IP (from Warner Bros.), premium-TV content (HBO), and streaming scale under one roof. That could accelerate streaming dominance worldwide.

On the other hand, a Paramount-driven full-company takeover would restore a vertically integrated media conglomerate: combining legacy TV networks, studios, streaming, and broadcast/cable operations. For shareholders, it offers a cleaner, higher-cash exit. For the media industry, it could preserve a broader footprint — spanning streaming, traditional broadcasting, and theatrical distribution.

But either outcome carries major risk: regulatory scrutiny (both in the US and abroad), concerns about media concentration, potential job losses (especially if overlapping operations are consolidated), and uncertainty about how legacy networks and streaming will be monetised in a rapidly changing media landscape.

What this could mean for Gulf and broader Middle East markets

For media companies, distributors, broadcasters and content partners in the Gulf and MENA region, the stakes are significant:

• Content syndication, licensing, and distribution: Whichever entity, Netflix or Paramount-WBD, wins control of Warner’s vast library and ongoing production slate, regional distributors may face renegotiated licensing deals or tighter exclusivity agreements. That could reshape streaming and pay-TV content supply in the Gulf.

• Competition and consumer choice: A merged Netflix–WBD or a re-integrated Paramount media conglomerate could dominate global content, potentially reducing the bargaining power of regional players, or alternately offering more premium content, depending on how the acquirer chooses to internationalise and license.

• Investment and partnership opportunities: Regional media houses, telecom operators bundling streaming, and VOD platforms may get a rare chance to partner with or licence content from either of these super-studios. The higher the acquisition value and pressure to monetise globally, the more likely they might pursue aggressive distribution/licensing deals — which could open doors for Gulf-based pay-TV or streaming ventures.

What’s next: key milestones and what to watch

According to Reuters, the board of Warner Bros. Discovery has acknowledged Paramount’s proposal but, at least for now, remains supportive of Netflix’s takeover agreement.

The Guardian reports that Paramount’s offer is being presented directly to shareholders, bypassing WBD’s board in what’s legally termed a “hostile bid.” The company argues this gives shareholders a chance to vote on a “superior all-cash” option.

Whoever emerges victorious may still face lengthy and intense antitrust reviews, both in the US and in key international markets. Regulators may view consolidation of major studios, cable networks and global streaming under one roof as a threat to competition — a factor that could shape how the deal is allowed to proceed or what concessions are required.

For Gulf-region stakeholders — media houses, distributors, content platforms, telecom operators — the outcome may determine access to global content rights, the structure of regional licensing deals, and competitive dynamics for streaming and pay-TV services across the Middle East.

In short: the battle for Warner Bros. Discovery is more than a Hollywood drama; it’s a global media-economics event with serious implications for content distribution, licensing and media competition worldwide, and for markets like the Gulf that serve as major syndication and distribution hubs.