This photo shows a Netflix building in Hollywood, Los Angeles County, California, the United States, on Dec. 17, 2025. The board of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), a leading global media and entertainment company, on Wednesday recommended that shareholders reject Paramount Skydance's 108.4-billion-U.S.-dollar tender offer and reiterated its support for the Netflix combination. (Photo by Zeng Hui/Xinhua)

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- The board of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), a leading global media and entertainment company, on Wednesday recommended that shareholders reject Paramount Skydance's 108.4-billion-U.S.-dollar tender offer and reiterated its support for the Netflix combination.

"Following a careful evaluation of Paramount's recently launched tender offer, the Board concluded that the offer's value is inadequate, with significant risks and costs imposed on our shareholders," said Samuel A. Di Piazza, Jr., board chair of WBD, in a statement.

"This offer once again fails to address key concerns that we have consistently communicated to Paramount throughout our extensive engagement and review of their six previous proposals. We are confident that our merger with Netflix represents superior, more certain value for our shareholders and we look forward to delivering on the compelling benefits of our combination," he added.

Netflix, the world's largest streaming company by subscriber count, sent shockwaves through Hollywood on Dec. 5 by announcing an 82.7-billion-U.S.-dollar agreement to acquire WBD, including the company's film and television studios. The cash and stock transaction is valued at 27.75 dollars per share.

The acquisition also includes Home Box Office, the premium U.S. television network and streaming service, along with HBO Max and its prestige series such as "Game of Thrones," "The Sopranos," and "The White Lotus."

But Netflix's effort to acquire WBD is facing unexpectedly strong resistance and intensifying political scrutiny, as a hostile bid from Paramount Skydance has placed the merger at the center of a widening national debate.

Paramount Skydance, a multinational media and entertainment conglomerate, announced on Dec. 8 that it would offer 30 U.S. dollars per share for WBD, dismissing Netflix's proposal as offering "inferior and uncertain value."

Netflix released a statement on Wednesday, saying it "welcomed the recommendation" from the WBD board of directors for stockholders to reject the unsolicited offer from Paramount Skydance.

"The Warner Bros. Discovery Board reinforced that Netflix's merger agreement is superior and that our acquisition is in the best interest of stockholders," Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said in the statement, adding that it was a competitive process that delivered the best outcome for consumers, creators, stockholders and the broader entertainment industry.

He said that "Netflix and Warner Bros. complement each other, and we're excited to combine our strengths with their theatrical film division, world-class television studio, and the iconic HBO brand, which will continue to focus on prestige television."

"We're also fully committed to releasing Warner Bros. films in theaters, with a traditional window, so audiences everywhere can enjoy them on the big screen," Sarandos noted.

Meanwhile, Paramount Skydance affirmed its commitment in a statement to acquiring WBD, urging "WBD shareholders to send a clear message to WBD that they prefer Paramount's superior offer by tendering their shares."

Chairman and CEO of Paramount David Ellison said in the statement that they "remain committed to bringing together two iconic Hollywood studios to create a unique global entertainment leader."

"Our proposal clearly offers WBD shareholders superior value and certainty, a clear path to close, and does not leave them with a heavily indebted sub-scale linear business," he said.

U.S. media and industry insiders widely believe that the WBD merger will reshape the Hollywood landscape.

After the Netflix-WBD merger plan was announced, entertainment analysts warned that antitrust concerns and political variables could delay any final agreement for years and harm the broader industry.

Hollywood unions have warned of potential job losses and higher consumer prices in an industry still recovering from strikes and the COVID-19 pandemic downturn.

Industry workers and the public are already impacted by only a few powerful companies maintaining tight control over what consumers can watch on television, on streaming and in theaters, the unions have said.

With the rejection, Paramount will need to persuade WBD shareholders to tender their shares at the 30-dollar price, or to submit a higher bid than its 108-billion-dollar offer that would shift the outcome of the dealmaking, according to The Hollywood Reporter, a major Hollywood industry magazine.

"Regardless of who prevails in the battle for Warner Bros., the deal will go down as one of the priciest media mergers in history and will alter the entertainment landscape," reported Deadline Hollywood, an online news site focused on the entertainment industry. ■

This photo shows a view at Warner Bros. studio in Burbank, Los Angeles County, California, the United States, on Dec. 17, 2025. The board of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), a leading global media and entertainment company, on Wednesday recommended that shareholders reject Paramount Skydance's 108.4-billion-U.S.-dollar tender offer and reiterated its support for the Netflix combination. (Photo by Zeng Hui/Xinhua)

This photo shows a view at Warner Bros. studio in Burbank, Los Angeles County, California, the United States, on Dec. 17, 2025. The board of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), a leading global media and entertainment company, on Wednesday recommended that shareholders reject Paramount Skydance's 108.4-billion-U.S.-dollar tender offer and reiterated its support for the Netflix combination. (Photo by Zeng Hui/Xinhua)