Paramount on Monday launched an all-cash tender offer to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, the Hollywood giant that also owns CNN, in a challenge to Netflix’s own highly contested deal.The hostile offer sets up a bidding war between Paramount — whose CEO is David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison, an ally of Donald Trump — and streaming behemoth Netflix.Netflix shocked the industry last week by announcing it had sealed an agreement to buy the Warner Bros. studio, drawing bitter reactions from voices in Hollywood worried about the future of their industry.David Ellison’s father Larry, one of the world’s richest people, has put up the cash to pay for the buyout, with sovereign wealth companies from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi also investors.Another investor is Affinity Partners, the private equity firm founded by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is close to the president and acted on his behalf in recent diplomatic missions on the wars in Gaza and Ukraine.Trump weighed in on Sunday, saying Netflix’s deal “could be a problem” as it would be left with a huge market share of the film and TV industry.In a break from usual practice, Trump said he would be “involved” in the government’s decision to approve the deal over fair competition concerns, instead of leaving the question solely in the hands of the Department of Justice or Federal Trade Commission, as is usually the case.”We’re really here to finish what we started,” David Ellison, who is also chairman of Paramount, told CNBC as his company made a sixth offer for Warner Bros. since a bidding war began in September.Unlike Netflix’s offer, Paramount’s latest bid includes the buyout of cable channels such as CNN, TNT, TBS and Discovery — which would be added to its group of TV assets like CBS, MTV and Comedy Central.The offer values the entertainment giant at $108.4 billion and represents a 139 percent premium over Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD)’s September stock price of $12.54, when the bidding war began.Paramount in a statement called Netflix’s bid, which values Warner Bros. studios at nearly $83 billion, “inferior and uncertain.””WBD shareholders deserve an opportunity to consider our superior all-cash offer,” Ellison said.Netflix declined a request for comment from AFP.- ‘Far from over’ -“The Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition is far from over,” said Emarketer analyst Ross Benes.”Netflix is in the driver’s seat but there will be twists and turns before the finish line… The battle could become prolonged.”Over the decades, Warner Bros. has produced film classics including “Casablanca” and “Citizen Kane,” as well as more recent blockbuster shows including “Friends,” “Game of Thrones” and the “Harry Potter” movies.Paramount argued its deal provides greater regulatory certainty than the Netflix transaction, which it said would give Netflix a 43 percent share of global streaming subscribers and face “protracted regulatory challenges across the world.”The combined company would unite Paramount’s portfolio — including Paramount Pictures, CBS, Nickelodeon and streaming site Paramount+ — with WBD’s assets including HBO Max and major sports rights.Paramount said the merger would generate over $6 billion in cost savings while maintaining theatrical releases and increasing content spending.Keeping movies in theaters is a very sensitive issue for the creative industry in Hollywood.Netflix is already viewed negatively in some Hollywood circles, largely due to its reluctance to release content in theaters and its disruption of the industry.Many veterans consider theatrical releases essential to cinema’s appeal and prestige, and also integral to maintaining Hollywood jobs and a vibrant economy.Warner Bros. Discovery’s share price skyrocketed by more than seven percent on Monday while shares in Netflix fell by over three percent.

The US Supreme Court appeared likely on Monday to back a bid by Donald Trump to expand presidential powers and curtail the independence of federal agencies.The case before the top court stems from the Republican president’s firing of Rebecca Slaughter, a Democratic member of the regulatory Federal Trade Commission (FTC).Slaughter was dismissed without cause and lower courts upheld her claim that the move violated rules Congress put in place to protect the members of independent government agencies.The Trump Justice Department appealed to the conservative-dominated Supreme Court and a majority of the justices appeared to side with the administration during oral arguments on Monday.Solicitor General John Sauer, representing the administration, urged the justices to overturn a landmark 1935 ruling known as “Humphrey’s Executor” that prevented then president Franklin Roosevelt from dismissing a member of the FTC.Chief Justice John Roberts, a conservative, referred to “Humphrey’s Executor” as a “dried husk” during two-and-a-half hours of oral arguments and said the FTC today is significantly more powerful than it was in the 1930s.Sauer said the current situation amounts to a “power vacuum” and the president as chief executive should have the authority to remove members of the FTC and the two dozen other similarly structured independent agencies at will.”The real world consequences here are human beings exercising enormous governmental authority with a great deal of control over individuals and businesses… who ultimately do not answer to the president,” Sauer said.”We think the text of the Constitution confers the executive power, all of it, on the president.”- ‘Uncontrolled power’ -The three liberal justices on the nine-member court expressed concerns that a ruling in the president’s favor would vastly increase the powers of the executive and strip independent agencies of protections from political influence.”The result of what you want is that the president is going to have massive, unchecked, uncontrolled power,” Justice Elena Kagan told the solicitor general.”If there’s one thing we know about the founders, it’s that they wanted powers separated,” Kagan said.Justice Sonia Sotomayor, another liberal, questioned the solicitor general along the same lines.”You’re asking us to destroy the structure of government and to take away from Congress its ability to protect its idea that the government is better structured with some agencies that are independent,” Sotomayor said.The FTC’s primary function is to protect the American public against deceptive or unfair business practices and it has taken on Apple, Amazon, Google, and Facebook parent Meta over how they wield market power.The FTC consists of five commissioners, typically representing both major political parties, with a chair nominated by the president.- ‘Not in the best interests’ -Trump fired Slaughter and the other Democrat on the FTC in March, opening the door for the Republican to appoint loyalists at the agency.Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a liberal, said it would be a mistake for the court to allow this.”Independent agencies exist because Congress has decided that some issues, some matters, some areas, should be handled in this way by non-partisan experts,” Jackson said.”Having a president come in and fire all the scientists and the doctors and the economists and the PhDs and replacing them with loyalists and people who don’t know anything is actually not in the best interests of the United States.”The Supreme Court has overwhelmingly sided with Trump since he returned to office, allowing mass firing of federal workers, the withholding of funds appropriated by Congress and racial profiling in his sweeping immigration crackdown.The court is to hear arguments next month over Trump’s bid to fire another senior official — Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook.The justices blocked Trump in October from firing Cook until they could hear her case contesting her dismissal.The Supreme Court is expected to give its decision in the FTC case by the end of June.