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11:25 AM ET, December 8, 2025

Mediagazer

 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 …
RELATED:
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  —  Paramount Skydance Corp. has lined up as much as $54 billion of financing from Wall Street's biggest firms to help support …
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.
Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:
Sources: Ted Sarandos met with Trump in November, arguing that Netflix wasn't a monopoly; Sarandos agreed with Trump that WBD should sell to the highest bidder  —  Netflix Inc. co-Chief Executive Officer Ted Sarandos ventured to the White House in mid-November for a meeting with President Donald Trump.
RELATED:
Bloomberg:
President Trump says Netflix's WBD deal has “got to go through a process”, its big market share “could be a problem”, and he will be involved in the decision
Financial Times:
Sources: WBD's board wanted a proposal it could sign immediately, and Netflix was the only bidder whose paperwork was fully executable the night of December 4
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  —  Chinese and Hong Kong authorities must immediately stop harassing journalists, release news commentator Wong Kwok-ngon …
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  —  “One Battle After Another,” a blisteringly funny look at a repressive society riven by political violence, dominated the 2026 Golden Globe Awards 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  —  Samba TV has secured up to $60 million in venture debt to scale through acquisitions and new AI-powered measurement tools, CEO Ashwin Navin exclusively tells Axios.
Discussion: TVNewsCheck
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  —  “It is so important that we continue to diversify revenue streams and control expenses to allow for a sustainable and impactful future," Academy CEO Bill Kramer tells THR.
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  —  There are eight weeks left on the holy Hollywood awards calendar until Oscar nominations are announced, and it's not just artists and craftspeople hunting for trophies.
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  —  A new report from WPP Media says global ad revenue will reach $1.14 trillion this year  —  Advertising spending will grow …
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 …
 
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 More News: 
Kat Tenbarge / Wired:
Some Reddit moderators say a surge of AI slop on the site is eroding its authenticity and could lead to a feedback loop of AI models training on AI content
John Koblin / New York Times:
Netflix's WBD deal should quiet concerns, for now, from CNN employees worried about the prospect of Paramount combining CBS News and CNN in a WBD acquisition
 Earlier Picks: 
Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter:
A look at Paramount's culture shift under David Ellison, where the focus is on male-driven action movies, and not on prestige films seen as critics' darlings
Humeyra Pamuk / Reuters:
The Trump administration orders enhanced vetting of H-1B applicants and their families for past work in “censorship”, including fact-checking and online safety
Variety:
The WGA, which routinely opposes media mergers, says the Netflix-WBD deal must be blocked, and the Producers and Directors guilds express concern over the deal
 

 
From Techmeme:

Lauren Thomas / Wall Street Journal:
IBM agrees to acquire data streaming software maker Confluent for ~$11B in cash, above its ~$8B market value as of its December 5 close, paying $31 per share

Bloomberg:
President Trump says he will sign “a ONE RULE” EO on AI “this week” and “you can't expect a company to get 50 Approvals every time they want to do something”

Laith Al-Khalaf / Financial Times:
Singapore-based banking and payments startup Airwallex raised $330M at an $8B valuation, after raising $300M at a $6.2B valuation in May, and plans a US HQ
 
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