Global media giant Netflix's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Greg Peters rejected Paramount Skydance's $108 billion bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), calling out that the offer being backed by Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, who is set to fund $40.4 billion in equity financing, reported the news portal Financial Times (FT).
Netflix's CEO said that without Larry Ellison's financial backing via independent financing, there is allegedly no chance that Paramount will be able to pull off the funding for the acquisition round.
Mint reported earlier that Larry Ellison has agreed to personally fund $40.4 billion in equity financing to support Paramount Skydance’s all-cash offer for the potential Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition. The Oracle co-founder is the father of David Ellison, who is also the CEO of Paramount.
“Without Larry Ellison independently financing this thing, there’s no chance in hell Paramount would ever be able to pull this off,” Peters told the news portal.
The executive also called Paramount's offer “pretty crazy”, citing the rising debts of the rival and its need to finance its $30-per-share offer.
“Paramount already is saddled with quite a lot of debt,” he added, describing the additional leverage needed to finance its $30-per-share offer as “pretty crazy”.
He also claimed that a “very small” number of Warner Bros. shareholders have been in support of Paramount's hostile buyout offer for the entire company, according to the news portal's report.
Board rejects Paramount offer
Mint reported earlier on 7 January 2026, Warner Bros. Discovery's board of directors rejected Paramount Skydance's $108.4 billion offer for the acquisition, citing concerns about the buyout plans and also urged the shareholders to reject the same offer.
In its filing, the company said that Paramount's offer remains ‘inadequate, particularly given the insufficient value it would provide.’ The board also claimed that there is a “lack of certainty” in the company's ability to fulfil the offer, creating risk and costs for the shareholders.
“The board unanimously determined that the Paramount’s latest offer remains inferior to our merger agreement with Netflix across multiple key areas,” Samuel A. Di Piazza, Jr., Chairperson of Warner Bros. Discovery board, told the shareholders.
Deal with Netflix
On 20 January 2026, SEC filings showed that Netflix revised the structure of the potential acquisition deal into an all-cash arrangement in an effort to simplify the transaction structure.
The transaction continues to be valued at $27.75 per share of Warner Bros. Discovery shares, unchanged from the previous transaction structure. However, the only change has been that a deal which was previously set to be a combination of cash and equity will now only be an all-cash agreement.
In an interview with the news portal FT, Netflix CEO Greg Peters said the company is expecting to win the backing of the shareholders, adding that Paramount's offer “doesn’t pass the sniff test.”
As the world awaits shareholders' decision in April 2026, Netflix is seeking to win over any wavering Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders. The CEO also said that the revised offer issued earlier this month provides “greater deal certainty”, which is partly funded by $55 billion of debt and also reportedly provides a snapshot in Netflix's strong balance sheet for the potential all-cash deal.