Gloves off in Hollywood: Ellison’s personal bet turns Warner Bros fight into a showdown
Larry Ellison’s $40bn guarantee escalates a takeover battle that now pits Silicon Valley capital against streaming incumbents, with Warner Bros Discovery caught in the middle
The struggle for control of Warner Bros Discovery has crossed a line. What was already one of the most bruising media battles in recent memory has turned fully confrontational, with Larry Ellison stepping in personally to guarantee more than $40bn of financing for Paramount’s hostile bid. The message is unmistakable: the gloves are off.
At stake is not just ownership of a legacy entertainment empire, but the future shape of Hollywood in an era dominated by streaming scale and financial firepower. Warner Bros Discovery’s board has already chosen its preferred path, agreeing to sell its film studios and HBO assets to Netflix in an $82.7bn deal. Paramount, controlled by the Ellison family, is now trying to wrench the company in a very different direction by bidding for the whole group.
Ellison’s move is designed to neutralise Warner Bros Discovery’s most potent criticism of the offer: doubts over funding certainty. By personally backstopping $40.4bn in equity financing, the Oracle co-founder has turned a contested bid into a direct challenge to the board’s judgment. It also reframes the contest as one between industrial logic and financial muscle. Paramount is arguing that full ownership of Warner Bros Discovery, including CNN and Discovery, creates more long-term value than Netflix’s selective carve-out.
The board of Warner Bros Discovery clearly disagrees. It has labelled Paramount’s $108.4bn offer inadequate and risky, and accused the bidder of misleading investors about its financing. That public language is unusually sharp, signalling how entrenched positions have become. This is no longer a genteel M&A process but a proxy fight over who gets to define the future of a historic studio system.
Paramount’s strategy is equally aggressive. Backers, including RedBird Capital, have taken their case straight to shareholders, arguing that boards advise but owners decide. That line of attack exposes a deeper tension. Media boards are trying to balance creative legacy, strategic coherence and regulatory risk. Financial sponsors are focused on headline value and optionality in a consolidating market.
The involvement of outside capital only heightens the stakes. Questions around the role of sovereign wealth funds and politically connected investors add a geopolitical layer to what might otherwise be a conventional takeover fight. Even the partial withdrawal of some backers has not slowed momentum, largely because Ellison’s guarantee dwarfs the concerns.
Markets are treating the clash as real and unresolved. Warner Bros Discovery shares jumped on the news, as did Paramount’s, while Netflix edged lower. Investors are betting that pressure will intensify, not dissipate. Either the board is forced back to the table, or Paramount pushes towards a direct appeal that risks months of legal and regulatory wrangling.
What this episode lays bare is how unforgiving the modern entertainment landscape has become. Scale, balance sheets and access to capital now matter as much as content libraries. Ellison’s intervention shows that tech-era wealth is willing to collide head-on with old Hollywood governance to secure strategic assets.
For Warner Bros Discovery, the coming weeks will determine whether its future is shaped by a streaming titan’s focused acquisition or a sweeping takeover backed by one of the world’s richest men. Either way, the era of polite negotiation is over.
