David Ellison extends deadline for Warner Bros. Discovery takeover offer

Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison appears to still be hopeful that investors will approve of his hostile takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, valued at $108.4 billion. Paramount Skydance announced Thursday that it is extending its all-cash offer to acquire the iconic studio, giving investors until February 20, 2026, to accept. The company’s previous run ended on January 21, but with a lawsuit underway and a revised Netflix deal to compete with, Paramount Skydance wants to stay in the conversation.

Netflix and Warner Bros. announced Discovery originally announced an $82.7 billion acquisition agreement in December 2025. The Netflix deal is for a large portion of Warner Bros.’ Discovery as it is today, but not all of it. If approved, the streaming service would acquire Warner Bros. Film Studios. And New Line Cinema, HBO, HBO Max, the company’s theme parks, game studios and select linear channels like TNT, but not the lineup of reality TV and news programming that Warner Bros. calls its own. Discovery “Global Networks”.

Paramount Skydance has made its competing $108.4 billion bid for Warner Bros. Discovery a few days later in December, with a recommendation that shareholders reject the Netflix deal. To add to the pressure, Paramount Skydance also filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Discovery in January, claiming that the company did not provide enough information about why it chose Netflix over Paramount. Far from offering more money, Paramount maintains that its deal is likely to be approved by regulators because Warner Bros. It does not “entrench Netflix’s market dominance.” Warner Bros. claims Discovery said financing for the Paramount deal “remains insufficient” and that the company is unsure that Paramount Skydance will actually be able to complete the deal.

David Ellison was previously able to merge Skydance with Paramount using financial support from his billionaire father, Larry Ellison, and the Ellison family’s friendly relationship with the Trump administration. The promise to ensure that CBS News represented a “diversity of viewpoints” through its newly appointed ombudsman, and that the combined Paramount Skydance would not create any diversity, equity and inclusion programs was enough to get the FCC to approve the merger. Ellison may have believed that the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery would be just as easy, but at least so far it hasn’t gone as planned.