Why Is Paramount Skydance Moving Higher Premarket? WBD Revisits $31 Offer

Paramount Skydance Corporation (PSKY) is ticking higher in premarket trading on Wednesday, February 25, after Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) signaled it is open to reconsidering a rival acquisition offer from Paramount following an improved bid. The move comes after Paramount raised its offer to $31 per share in cash, a development that has thrown the previously preferred Netflix deal into serious doubt.

The bidding war for one of Hollywood’s most coveted studios – home to Batman, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, and DC Comics, has now entered a critical new phase, with a WBD shareholder vote on the Netflix deal currently scheduled for March 20.

Warner Bros. Discovery Opens the Door — What Happened and Why It Matters

Warner Bros. Discovery responded Tuesday evening to Paramount Skydance’s latest improved buyout offer, stating that the revised proposal “could reasonably be expected to lead to a Company Superior Proposal” as defined in its existing merger agreement with Netflix. The new bid prices WBD shares at $31 in cash, up from Paramount’s prior offer of $30 per share, and includes a daily ticking fee equivalent to $0.25 per quarter for every quarter beyond September 30 that the deal has not yet closed.

Paramount also agreed to pay a $7 billion regulatory termination fee should the transaction fail to gain regulatory approval, up from a previous $5.8 billion, along with covering the $2.8 billion breakup fee owed to Netflix if WBD were to walk away from that deal.

WBD’s board has not yet formally declared Paramount’s offer to be superior, but it has agreed to engage further to explore whether that threshold can be reached. If a superior proposal is ultimately determined, Netflix will have four business days to revise its own offer.

Netflix, which had offered $27.75 per share in cash, a total of roughly $82.7 billion including net debt, for WBD’s studios, content catalog, and HBO Max streaming service, declined to comment on the latest development.

Adding further pressure on WBD’s board, activist investor Ancora Holdings, which owns a stake in Warner Bros. Discovery, has publicly criticized the Netflix deal and argued that the company did not adequately engage with Paramount’s proposals.

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PSKY Stock Brief: Premarket Gains, Recent Trends, and Key Metrics

Paramount Skydance (PSKY) was trading at $10.68 in premarket as of 6:07 AM EST on February 25, reflecting a gain of $0.29, or approximately 2.79%, following Tuesday’s regular session close of $10.39. The stock had ended the prior session down 1.61% on the day, with a trading range of $10.35 to $10.68 and volume of roughly 7.3 million shares against an average of about 8.9 million.

PSKY carries a market cap of approximately $11.46 billion, a beta of 1.21, and a 52-week range spanning $9.95 to $20.86 – a range that underscores the significant price erosion the stock has experienced over the past year amid the ongoing M&A uncertainty and broader media sector headwinds.

From a fundamental standpoint, the stock presents a mixed picture. The trailing P/E stands at an elevated 346x, reflecting razor-thin earnings with a TTM EPS of just $0.03, while the forward P/E of 12.67 suggests analysts expect a meaningful earnings recovery ahead. Revenue for the trailing twelve months came in at $28.73 billion, though the company posted a net loss of $272 million and carries a negative profit margin of roughly -0.95%.

The analyst consensus price target sits at $14.39, representing meaningful upside from current levels, though the stock has dramatically underperformed the broader market, down over 50% on a three-year basis and over 82% on a five-year basis versus the S&P 500’s strong gains over the same periods. PSKY’s Q4 2025 earnings call is scheduled for today at 4:45 PM EST, which could serve as another catalyst for the stock as investors look for more clarity on the company’s financial position and deal prospects.

Disclaimer: The author does not hold or have a position in any securities discussed in the article. All stock prices were quoted at the time of writing.