Mediagazer: Filing: Paramount's outside partners for its WBD bid include Saudi Arabia's PIF, Abu Dhabi's L'imad, Qatar Investment Authority, and Jared Kushner's Affinity (Sara Fischer/Axios)

6:25 PM ET, December 8, 2025

Top News:

CNBC:

Paramount launches a hostile bid to acquire WBD, offering WBD shareholders $30/share in a $108.4B all-cash deal; sources say WBD rejected the same bid last week — Paramount Skydance is launching a hostile bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery after it lost out to Netflix in a months-long bidding war …

Discussion: Variety, Variety, The Ankler, Axios, Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, TV Tech, The Guardian, The Guardian, Financial Times, Business Insider, Deadline, Sydney Morning Herald, Time, Screen Rant, Fast Company, BBC, The North West Star, @cspan, Vanity Fair, Inverse, TheDesk.net, Techdirt, SiliconANGLE, ITR Wrestling, Media Play News, Associated Press, Yahoo Finance, @deitaone, The Times, ABC, MobileSyrup, Benzinga, Nerdist, Fortune, Digital Music News, Bloomberg, MediaPost, Dow Jones Newswires, The Hill, UPI, @sherman4949, Barrett Media, KDFX-TV, naked capitalism, France 24, Forbes, @sarafischer, Blockchain.News, Pure Xbox, Lawyers, Guns & Money, The Independent, @stephentotilo.bsky.social, MS NOW, /Film, Ars Technica, @danprimack, @newsguy.bsky.social, @franciswilkinson.bsky.social, @alaynatreene, @teroterotero, @danprimack, Entrepreneur, Cord Cutters News, @mattmcneilshow.bsky.social, Sports Business Journal, @renegadecut.bsky.social, GameSpot, @joecarlsonshow, Michael Quigley on LinkedIn, No Film School, GamesIndustry.biz, PCMag, @sherman4949, @sherman4949, Reuters, Investomania, @panda-news.bsky.social, Screen, Pulse 2.0, @edmundlee, Canoe, @kcfennessy.bsky.social, @seldo.com, CNN, @rwmead.bsky.social, Mirror US, @sherman4949, Hollywood Life, @rosesbloom24.bsky.social, Sharecast, Gizmodo, @sherman4949, The Movie Blog, The Standard, Quartz, The Streamable, The Moderate Voice, @teroterotero, @grynbaum, @sherman4949, Sports Media Watch, Comic Book, @sherman4949, @kristoncapps.bsky.social, Gianna Barberia on LinkedIn, @sherman4949, @mikeisaac, CBS News, @rabichakra.bsky.social, @obrien_kat@mastodon.world, @fizzvstheworld.bsky.social, @sherman4949, today.rtl.lu, The Indian Express, Telegraph, Engadget, @brianstelter, @schooley.bsky.social, @msignorile.bsky.social, @lucas_shaw, @markjacob.bsky.social, Inc.com, @brianstelter, TBPN, @ryanenos.bsky.social, @annmlipton@esq.social, NBC News, @kerrymflynn, @robertscotthorton.bsky.social, @bgrueskin.bsky.social, WTTG-TV, @karlbode.com, Awful Announcing, @laurenshirsch, Livemint, @lucas_shaw, Breitbart, @sternbergh.bsky.social, BNN Bloomberg, Business Today, @figgityfigs.bsky.social, Thurrott, Washington Times, Mediaite, Far Out Magazine, BusinessDesk, Fox Business, Anadolu Ajansı …, Washington Examiner, PC Gamer, WPXI-TV, The Post Millennial, Just The News, masslive.com, The Verge, MacDailyNews, CBC News, Jerusalem Post, Stevivor, Instapundit, BelfastTelegraph.co.uk and Realscreen, more at Techmeme »

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Filing: Paramount's outside partners for its WBD bid include Saudi Arabia's PIF, Abu Dhabi's L'imad, Qatar Investment Authority, and Jared Kushner's Affinity — Paramount on Monday launched a hostile takeover bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, going directly to shareholders with an all-cash, $30-per-share offer.

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

Comcast President Mike Cavanagh says the company did not have a “high likelihood of prevailing” in its WBD bid but believed the attempt was worthwhile — Mike Cavanagh said Monday that the company “did not expect that we had a high likelihood of prevailing” in its Warner Bros. bid, but wanted to try.

Discussion: Bloomberg, @tvgrimreaper, The Wrap, Business Insider and Deadline

Rohan Goswami / Semafor:
Paramount's WBD bid is backfiring in DC; a Trump official says Paramount seems to “believe the worst possible tropes” about corruption in the administration

Discussion: Mediaite, New York Post, HuffPost, @maxwelltani, @semaforben, Reuters, @brianstelter, @karlbode.com, @atrupar, @semaforben and Business Insider

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:
Ted Sarandos says Paramount's “move was entirely expected”, but Netflix is “super confident” that it will get the WBD deal “across the line and finish”

Discussion: Business Insider, StreamTV Insider, Screen Rant, The Wrap, Investor's Business Daily, Deadline, CinemaBlend, Cord Cutters News, Axios, Mediaite, The Movie Blog, The Hollywood Reporter and Bloomberg, more at Techmeme »

Bloomberg:
Paramount secures up to $54B in bridge loan financing, one of the largest of its kind, from Bank of America, Citigroup, and Apollo Global for its WBD bid

Discussion: Reuters, Cord Cutters News, Fortune and @devonheinen.bsky.social, more at Techmeme »

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Sources: ABC extended Jimmy Kimmel's deal until May 2027; the deal was reached months ago, but the announcement was delayed out of respect for Stephen Colbert — Walt Disney Co. is bringing Jimmy Kimmel back for at least one more year. — The late-night star, who was suspended in September …

Mark Kleinman / Sky News:

Source: Piers Morgan's YouTube-based venture Uncensored is raising £22.5M from The Raine Group, Theo Kyriakou, and others at a £97M pre-money valuation — The US-based merchant bank Raine and Greek media mogul Theo Kyriakou are among the backers of the former Mirror editor …

Discussion: The Wrap and Mirror

PodcastingToday:
Piers Morgan's Uncensored launches its first spin-off, History Uncensored, hosted by former CNN anchor Bianca Nobilo, airing weekly on YouTube and as a podcast

Discussion: Mediaite, Variety, @gregianjohnson.bsky.social and Barrett Media

Lara O'Reilly / Business Insider:

Uber launches Uber Intelligence, an insights platform that lets advertisers tap into Uber's data about customer trips and deliveries — - Uber Advertising is launching an insights platform for marketers called Uber Intelligence. — It has partnered with LiveRamp to aggregate users' data without revealing their identities.

Discussion: TheDesk.net, Engadget, How-To Geek and @hypervisible.blacksky.app, more at Techmeme »

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Sources: Anderson Cooper has signed a new deal with CNN — Anderson Cooper may no longer always be the anchor on CNN who is most watched regularly by viewers, but the news outlet believes he's still worth keeping on the roster. — Cooper in recent weeks signed a new deal …

Discussion: The Independent, The Wrap, TVNewsCheck, RADAR, TV Insider, Deadline, Barrett Media, @jeremymbarr and Just Jared

Dade Hayes / Deadline:

MoffettNathanson: US pay-TV subscriptions grew by 303,000 in Q3 from Q2 2025, the first increase since 2017, and the overall rate of decline improved to 5.8% — U.S. pay-TV subscriber levels posted their first increase since 2017 during the third quarter, according to a new report from Wall Street research firm Moffett Nathanson.

Mike Butcher / Pathfounders:

Alexandru Stan, founder of the software marketplace Tekpon, has acquired The Next Web media and events brands from The Financial Times — The European tech media space has been in quite a state of flux this past year or so, to put it mildly. Under assault, it said, from an AI-driven plumet in traffic …

Discussion: @martinsfp.bsky.social

Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:

Adobe partners with YouTube to launch a dedicated content creation space for YouTube Shorts creators within its Premiere mobile app for iOS — Adobe is partnering with YouTube to launch a dedicated content creation space in Premiere for iOS for YouTube Shorts creators, the company announced on Monday.

Discussion: Android Police, The Shortcut, 9to5Google and Thurrott

Max Tani / Semafor:

Source: OpenAI privately complained to NBC News that the author of a story about OpenAI pressuring nonprofits was backed by a nonprofit involved in the story — The Scoop — Last month, NBC News broke the news that the artificial intelligence behemoth OpenAI had quietly issued a series …

Discussion: @binarybits, @jeffjarvis.bsky.social, @lopatto.bsky.social and @maxwelltani

Todd Spangler / Variety:

Letterboxd plans to launch its Video Store film rental platform on December 10, offering curated indie titles in 23 countries, including the US, UK, and France — Letterboxd is about to let you not just fan over your favorite films — it's going to let you rent and stream a curated selection of indie titles, too.

Discussion: Screen Rant, IndieWire, Fast Company, The Hollywood Reporter, MacStories and The Wrap

Archived Page Info:

This is a snapshot of Mediagazer at 6:25 PM ET, December 8, 2025.

View the current page or another snapshot:

Who's Hiring in Media?

Assistant Editor, NY — NYT

Sports Correspondent, Bengaluru — Reuters

Breaking News Editor, Toronto — Bloomberg

Texas Political Editor, TX — Courier Newsroom

News Reporter - CNN Weather, GA — CNN

Senior Reporter - AI, CA — TechCrunch

Reporter, CO — Vail Daily

Senior Editor - NBC Select, NY — NBC

Legal Editor, South Australia — LexisNexis

Editor-in-Chief, NY — Jewish Currents

Sr. Political Reporter, CA — Sacramento Bee

Editor, DC — The Argument

Deputy Editor - Engagement, NY — IRE

Local Editor, MD — Patch

Editor - Founder Brew, NY — Morning Brew

Senior Content Strategist, CA — LA Times

Sr. Government Reporter - TX — Community Impact

Senior Editor - Economy, NY — Business Insider

Sports/News Journalist, FL — Florida Press

Managing Editor, NY — Sportico

Multimedia Reporter, TX — Victoria Advocate

Deputy Food & Wine Editor, CA — SF Chronicle

Community News Reporter, IA — TCC

Congressional Reporter, DC — Semafor

Production Assistant, NY — Daily Beast

Digital Editor, OH — Columbus Biz First

Senior Political Reporter, ME — BDN

Managing Editor, PA — Philadephia Tribune

Sports Audience Editor, NY — The Guardian

Deputy Editor, HI — Honolulu Civil Beat

National Editor — States Newsroom

Wealth & Philanthropy Reporter, TX — DMN

Paid Social Lead, NY — Rolling Stone

Add your company here

See Also:

Mediagazer: site main

Mediagazer River: reverse chronological Mediagazer

Mediagazer Mobile: for phones

Mediagazer Leaderboard: Mediagazer's top sources

Subscribe:

Mediagazer RSS feed

Mediagazer on X

Mediagazer on Mastodon

More News:

Lawrence Bonk / Engadget:
TikTok announces Shared Collection, to organize and share saved videos, and plans to launch Shared Feed, a daily curated selection of 15 videos, globally

Discussion: Social Media Today, TechCrunch and TikTok

Variety:
Netflix scores the most 2026 Golden Globe nominations, with 35 nominations across film and TV; Warner Bros. and HBO got a combined 31 nominations

Kerry Flynn / Axios:
Samba TV raised up to $60M in venture debt to scale through acquisitions and new AI-powered measurement tools; Samba previously raised $69M in equity funding

Discussion: TV Tech, TVNewsCheck, Kerry Flynn on LinkedIn and VC News Daily

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
The Academy reports fiscal 2025 revenues of $269.2M, up from $263.1M in 2024, after cutting expenses from $220.1M to $208.1M; Oscars revenue grew to $150.5M

Barbara Moens / Financial Times:
European Commission: Meta agreed to change its “pay or consent” model to let Facebook and Instagram users share less data in exchange for less personalized ads

Discussion: The American Bazaar, The Daily Wire, Social Media Today, Channel NewsAsia, Euractiv, Mashable, BBC, Le Monde, Cautious Optimism, New York Times, today.rtl.lu, PYMNTS.com, Thurrott, Reuters, European Commission, The Verge and Engadget, more at Techmeme »

Earlier Picks:

Committee to Protect Journalists:
After the building fire, Hong Kong summoned AFP, FT, NYT, AP, Bloomberg, and WSJ journalists, telling them to avoid “trouble making”, and arrested a commentator

Discussion: OCCRP, The Guardian, South China Morning Post, @sensehofstede.nl and @newsguy.bsky.social

Megan Graham / Wall Street Journal:
WPP Media expects global ad revenue, excluding US political ads, to grow 8.8% YoY in 2025 to $1.14T, and says AI investment drives more spending than expected

Discussion: WPP Media, @carlquintanilla.bsky.social, GeekWire, Megan Graham on LinkedIn, Marketing Dive, MediaPost, The Drum, TVNewsCheck, Communicate Online, Mumbrella, Blockchain.News, AdExchanger, Adweek and campaignlive.co.uk

Ellen Gamerman / Wall Street Journal:
Inside the creation of AI actress Tilly Norwood, which included 2,000 iterations; Particle6, its creator, says it has ~60 NDAs for projects involving Tilly

Discussion: Cosmopolitan, New York Post, Digital Music News and CBS News, more at Techmeme »

Matt Donnelly / Variety:
A look at the auction for the Oscars' TV rights, as sources say Netflix is out, NBCUniversal gains ground, and YouTube and ABC remain active bidders

Discussion: Australian Financial Review, Offscreen Central, Decider, TVNewsCheck, Screen Rant, The Hollywood Reporter and New York Times

From Techmeme:

xAI:
xAI raised a $20B Series E, exceeding its $15B targeted round size, with participation from Valor, Nvidia, and others, and says Grok 5 is currently in training

Stevie Bonifield / The Verge:
Meta unveils teleprompter and EMG handwriting features for Meta Ray-Ban Display and expands Pedestrian Navigation for the glasses to four new US cities

Allison Smith / Modern Retail:
Brands complain Amazon's “Buy for Me” AI-powered shopping tool features their products on Amazon without permission and shows descriptions with errors

Sister Sites:

Techmeme
Top news and commentary for technology's leaders, from all around the web

memeorandum
What US political commentators are discussing online right now

WeSmirch
The top celebrity news from all around the web on a single page