David Ellison is on a race against the clock, meeting political leaders and entertainment figures across Europe to rally support for his $108.4 billion hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery and build an opposition against rival suitor Netflix. The outreach comes as regulators in Europe and the U.S. continue to scrutinize both deals.
On Wednesday, Ellison and his delegation traveled to Paris, where they met with French President Emmanuel Macron and culture minister Rachida Dati as well as key figures within the film landscape, notably the president of the National Film Board (CNC) Gaetan Bruel; Gaumont CEO Sidonie Dumas; Richard Patry, the head of the French Exhibition Association; and Metropolitan Filmexport boss Victor Hadida. Paramount execs have also traveled to Germany and the U.K. (where Ellison spoke to Lisa Nandy, the secretary of state for culture, media and sport) and held meetings at the European Commission, according to Bloomberg, which was first to report on Ellison’s visit to the French Elysée.
While Ellison was busy mounting a European lobbying push in France, Germany and the U.K., a Delaware Chancery Court judge rejected Paramount Skydance’s attempt to fast-track its lawsuit against Warner Bros Discovery, which seeks to force the company to disclose financial details of its $83 billion deal with Netflix. That leaves Ellison’s hostile $30-per-share takeover bid to proceed without expedited discovery and with an expiration date (self-imposed by Paramount Skydance) set for Jan. 21.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos was in France last month for the premiere of “Emily in Paris” Season 4, where he also met with industry players, talked to Macron as Darren Star was receiving the Legion of Honor at the Elysée Palace, stopped by Canal+ Group’s upfront and vowed to keep Warner Bros. movies in theaters during a fireside chat with Canal+ Group CEO Maxime Saada. The next day, Sarandos and Greg Peters visited Discovery CEO David Zaslav on the historic Warner Bros. Studio lot in Burbank to show the world that his deal was locked for good. French industry figures were stunned when just a few weeks later, rumors started circling about Netflix’s plan to have a 17-day window for Warner Bros. movies.
During his conversations with French executives and creatives this week, Ellison stressed how committed to the theatrical experience he was.
“I was impressed by David Ellison’s determination to try to buy Warner. His arguments are strong,” an industry source who attended the conversations in Paris told Variety. “He explained his strategy to us: he is betting everything on keeping both studios, respecting media chronology and windows in France and other countries, and maintaining a high level of production at Paramount and Warner.”
Another source said he believes Ellison’s efforts to rally political and industry support are not vain. “We’re hearing that the deal with Netflix is being heavily scrutinized in the U.S. and we think it’s going to hit a wall with the European anti-trust regulators,” said another source, before adding that Ellison “made it crystal clear that seeing Warner selling to Paramount Skydance rather than Netflix would be a much happier outcome for the film industry.” In France, a 17-day theatrical window would not be possible due to local windowing rules where cinemas have a four month exclusive window on any new releases. Netflix, meanwhile, has to wait 15 months to access newly released films. The streamer has called out those rules and even lodged an appeal with France’s Council of State.
The fate of Warner Bros. is a source of great concern for exhibitors across the pond, who have already been weakened by declining theatrical admissions in 2025. The studio is known to be not only a source of tentpoles but also the most “European” of the American studios.
