The Megyn Kelly Show
Jasmine Crockett Enters Senate Race, Paramount's Hostile Takeover, Mamdani's Mansion: AM Update 12/9
09 Dec 2025
Chapter 1: What is Paramount's hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros Discovery?
good morning everyone i'm megan kelly it's tuesday december 9th 2025 and this is your am update our offer is 30 a share all cash 41 billion dollars in equity that's backstopped by the ellison family paramount announcing a hostile bid to purchase warner brothers discovery just one day after netflix announces a signed deal to do the same turning texas blue is what i want to talk to y'all about today
U.S. Congresswoman from Texas Jasmine Crockett announces a run for U.S. Senate. Late night host Jimmy Kimmel's contract extended for a year. Months after the host was yanked off the air for a whopping six days. And New York City Mayor-elect Zoram Mamdani announces he is prepping for his move to a New York City mansion. All that and more coming up in just a moment on your AM Update.
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Paramount Skydance on Monday launching a hostile takeover bid to purchase Warner Brothers Discovery, taking its offer directly to shareholders just one day after Netflix announced a signed deal to purchase the legacy studio. A hostile takeover is when a buyer takes control of a target company without the approval or consent of the target company's board of directors.
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Chapter 2: What does Jasmine Crockett's Senate campaign mean for Texas politics?
Paramount offering shareholders an all-cash offer, valuing the company at about $108 billion, as opposed to Netflix's signed deal of $83 billion, paid out in a mix of cash and stock. CEO of Paramount Skydance, David Ellison, pitching his offer yesterday morning on CNBC.
Our offer is $30 a share, all cash, $41 billion in equity that's backstopped by the Ellison family and Redbird, $54 billion in debt with commitments from Citi, Bank of America, and Apollo. We have faster regulatory certainty to close, and our deal is pro-consumer, it's pro-creative talent, it's pro-competition.
And we believe that when you actually, to further contextualize, there are $30 in cash, or is basically $17.6 billion in cash more than the $23 in share they signed up. And we believe when they see what is currently in our offer, that that's what they'll vote for.
Paramount taking the position that Warner Brothers never, quote, engaged meaningfully with its proposals throughout the high-stakes bidding war. Paramount's offer would buy all of Warner Brothers Discovery's assets, including its cable networks like CNN, TBS, and TNT. Netflix's deal, by contrast, would acquire only the film and TV studios, including HBO and HBO Max, with Warner Bros.
spinning off its cable channels into a separate company. CNBC host David Faber with more on how the upcoming process will play out.
What this will have the effect of doing essentially is making the shareholder vote on the Netflix transaction the key, where shareholders will be making their voices heard conceivably according to Paramount. And the fact that throughout in this press release, they feel as though they were not given the attention they deserved, and were not treated on equal footing to Netflix.
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Chapter 3: How did Jimmy Kimmel's contract extension impact his show?
And hence, in bringing a tender offer of this type to shareholders, they are going to share everything with those shareholders of Warner Brothers in the hopes, of course, that they will put pressure on the company in some way and or at least indicate that they're unwilling to vote in favor of the current transaction with Netflix.
As these things go, when you file a tender offer, you are then put the company you filed against in the position of having to file a D9, which requires them to come out with all the reasons why they decided what they did. And so we're going to get a lot more explication, let's say, around the process itself.
Any deal, regardless of whether it's Netflix or Paramount, will require regulatory approval from the Trump administration. In a sign of Netflix's confidence, its merger will be approved, the streaming platform agreeing to pay Warner Bros. a $5.8 billion breakup fee if the deal does not go through. Conversely, Warner Bros.
must pay Netflix $2.8 billion if it pulls out of the deal to go with someone else. Paramount arguing the Netflix deal faces steeper regulatory hurdles since it would combine the number one streaming service, Netflix, with the number three service, HBO Max. President Trump's Sunday at the Kennedy Center conceding Netflix may have a problem.
Should they be allowed to buy Warner Brothers? Well, that's the question. They have a very big market share. And when they have Warner Brothers, you know, that share goes up a lot. So I don't know.
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Chapter 4: What challenges does Netflix face with its Warner Bros deal?
That's going to be for some economists to tell. And also, and I'll be involved in that decision, too. But they have a very big market share. There's no question about it. It could be a problem.
David Ellison's father, chief technology officer and co-founder of tech giant Oracle, Larry Ellison, is also a strong Trump ally. Paramount expecting its offer could be approved in one year. whereas the Netflix deal is anticipated to take 12 to 18 months. The junior Ellison, appealing to movie fans, vowing to put 30 movies per year into theaters.
The Netflix deal drawing industry backlash from those worried about what a streaming giant's takeover of a legacy studio could mean for traditional movie theaters.
Netflix attempting to calm those fears, though not entirely successfully, saying it, quote, expects to maintain Warner Brothers' current operations and build on its strengths, including theatrical releases for films, but without any guaranteed number. Netflix, with limited exceptions, does not release its movies theatrically.
possibly complicating Paramount's bid to fund the deal, the company is backed by multiple foreign sovereign wealth funds, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi, as well as President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner's fund, Affinity Partners. Wait, so could Jared Kushner soon be running CNN? Can you imagine?
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Chapter 5: What are the implications of the Paramount and Netflix bidding war?
Ah, alas, each of those players agreeing that they will not take any governance role in the company should their takeover bid be completed. U.S. Senator from Maryland, Democrat Chris Van Hollen, attacking the deal in an ex-post, quote, More grift. The Warner Brothers merger was already suspect, but now Trump's family is getting in on the act. This cannot stand.
President Trump asked yesterday at the White House about Paramount's bid.
Do you support the Paramount bid for Warner Brothers that came out this morning? I don't know enough about it. You spoke about Netflix last night, saying you have concerns about them.
I know the companies very well. I know what they're doing. But I have to see. I have to see what percentage of market they have. We have to see the Netflix percentage of market, Paramount, the percentage of market. I mean, none of them are particularly great friends of mine.
Chapter 6: How does Zoran Mamdani's move to Gracie Mansion affect his image?
I want to do what's right. It's very important to do what's right.
If Paramount is supported by Jared Kushner, Mr. President, would that impact your decision?
If Paramount is? I don't know. I've never spoken to him. He's really tried to work on Gaza.
His primary thing is Gaza. The Warner Brothers Board of Directors responding to Paramount's bid, telling shareholders it will evaluate the offer and release its decision within 10 days. Paramount's offer expires on January 8, 2026. U.S. Congresswoman from Texas, Democrat Jasmine Crockett, officially launching a run for Senate on Monday.
Crockett now set to challenge Texas State Representative James Tallarico in the primary. Her announcement coming after weeks of speculation and just hours after former Congressman Colin Allred dropping out of the race. Allred confirming yesterday on CNN his decision to exit the race was due to Crockett's decision to enter.
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Chapter 7: What controversies surround Mamdani's transition to mayor?
Jasmine Crockett is very openly considering running. Is that part of why you decided to not run anymore?
Of course it is. And I think, listen, Jasmine's a friend of mine and we've served together. I've known her since before we were both in elected office. But it was about the fact that with three strong candidates running that we would certainly have a runoff. And to me, going through a bruising primary was not in the best interest of the state or the party.
Ms. Crockett, the 44-year-old congresswoman first elected to office in 2022, quickly rising to national prominence thanks to her bombastic style and nonstop social media presence, unloading a steady stream of insults and tirades at Republican foes, from Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene to President Trump to Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Here, a sampling.
are going to be in your face. We are going to be on your asses. We are going to make sure you understand what democracy looks like. This ain't it. Because we in these hot-ass Texas streets, honey.
Chapter 8: What does the future hold for Texas Democrats in the upcoming elections?
Y'all know we got Governor Hot Wheels down there. Come on now. Donald Trump is a piece of shit. Okay, we know that. He is. If someone on this committee then starts talking about somebody's bleached, blonde, bad-built, butch body, that would not be engaging in personalities, correct?
A what now?
Not only are we going to punch back, but we about to beat you down.
Crockett, who went to the best private schools to be educated and came on the national scene sounding closer to Eliza Doolittle than Cardi B, now, since becoming a congresswoman, is all about the street. Crockett taking plenty of heat in return from those she's attacked in politics and embracing it in her campaign launch video posted yesterday. And this is not a joke.
It actually is her launch ad. In it, the congresswoman stares off into the distance, blinking slowly behind long, curly eyelashes. while the following audio plays.
How about this new one they have, their new star, Crockett? How about her? She's the new star of the Democrat Party, Jasmine Crockett. They're in big trouble. But you have this woman, Crockett. She's a very low IQ person. I watched her speak the other day. She's definitely a low IQ person. Crockett! Oh man, oh man. She's a very low IQ person.
Somebody said the other day, she's one of the leaders of the party. I said, you gotta be kidding me.
Now they're going to rely on Crockett. Crockett's going to bring them back. Toward the end, Crockett turning dramatically to the camera, flashing a smile before the words Crockett for U.S. Senate appear on screen.
An October poll from the University of Houston showing Crockett leading the pack in a four-way challenge, including Tallarico, former Congressman Beto O'Rourke, and Colin Allred, the latter of whom keep running for office and losing every time there's a race in Texas. Crockett with 31%, Tallarico at 25%, O'Rourke at 25%, and Allred then at 13%.
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