{"id":58963,"date":"2026-02-23T09:08:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T13:08:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/paramount-eyes-32-share-bid-for-warner-bros-discovery-uk-navigates-us-tariff-volatility\/58963\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T09:08:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T13:08:29","slug":"paramount-eyes-32-share-bid-for-warner-bros-discovery-uk-navigates-us-tariff-volatility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/paramount-eyes-32-share-bid-for-warner-bros-discovery-uk-navigates-us-tariff-volatility\/58963\/","title":{"rendered":"Paramount Eyes $32\/Share Bid for Warner Bros. Discovery; UK Navigates US Tariff Volatility"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Paramount Global (<a href=\"\/stock\/PARA\">PARA<\/a>)<\/strong> is expected to submit a revised takeover offer for <strong>Warner Bros. Discovery (<a href=\"\/stock\/WBD\">WBD<\/a>)<\/strong> at <strong>$32 per share<\/strong> ahead of a critical midnight deadline.<\/li>\n<li>UK official <strong>Wells<\/strong> downplayed the impact of new <strong>15% US global tariffs<\/strong>, stating the ruling is unlikely to affect the majority of British trade.<\/li>\n<li>The UK government confirmed that the vetting process for <strong>Lord Mandelson\u2019s<\/strong> potential diplomatic appointment was exhaustive and saw no shortcuts.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Leo Brent Bozell III<\/strong> has officially presented his credentials as the new <strong>US Ambassador to South Africa<\/strong>, arriving amid a period of significant diplomatic tension.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Paramount Targets Warner Bros. Discovery with $32 Bid<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Paramount Global (<a href=\"\/stock\/PARA\">PARA<\/a>)<\/strong> is reportedly preparing to raise the stakes in the ongoing battle for <strong>Warner Bros. Discovery (<a href=\"\/stock\/WBD\">WBD<\/a>)<\/strong>. According to reports from <em>Variety<\/em>, Paramount is expected to submit a revised offer of <strong>$32 per share<\/strong>, a significant increase from its previous <strong>$30 per share<\/strong> proposal. This move comes as David Ellison\u2019s Paramount Skydance faces a <strong>Monday, February 23, 11:59 p.m. ET deadline<\/strong> to present its &quot;best and final&quot; offer to outmaneuver a rival interest from <strong>Netflix (<a href=\"\/stock\/NFLX\">NFLX<\/a>)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The board of <strong>Warner Bros. Discovery (<a href=\"\/stock\/WBD\">WBD<\/a>)<\/strong> had previously opened a seven-day window to allow for these improved negotiations. Shares of <strong>WBD<\/strong> rose <strong>1.5%<\/strong> on Monday following the report, trading near <strong>$28.75<\/strong>. Investors are closely watching the outcome, as a successful <strong>$32\/share<\/strong> bid would represent a substantial premium over the company&#39;s recent valuation and potentially reshape the global media landscape.<\/p>\n<h2>UK Government Responds to &quot;Rapidly Evolving&quot; US Tariffs<\/h2>\n<p>In the United Kingdom, government official <strong>Wells<\/strong> addressed the &quot;rapidly evolving&quot; situation regarding <strong>US trade tariffs<\/strong>. Following a <strong>US Supreme Court<\/strong> ruling that struck down a previous <strong>10%<\/strong> levy, the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/thestockmarketwatch.com\/live\/trump-stock-market\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"8\" title=\"Trump\">Trump<\/a> administration<\/strong> announced a new <strong>15% global tariff<\/strong> effective immediately. Despite the sudden shift, <strong>Wells<\/strong> stated that the UK does not expect the ruling to affect the majority of its trade with the United States, citing the UK&#39;s &quot;privileged&quot; and &quot;preferential&quot; trading arrangements.<\/p>\n<p>British officials are currently discussing the tariff situation with the <strong>US administration<\/strong> &quot;at all levels&quot; to secure the best possible deal for UK firms. While businesses face a period of <em>heightened uncertainty<\/em>, the government remains optimistic that carve-outs for key sectors like <strong>steel<\/strong> and <strong>automotive manufacturing<\/strong> will remain intact. The <strong>British Chambers of Commerce<\/strong> has warned that without these protections, a wide range of exports could face an additional <strong>5%<\/strong> tariff burden.<\/p>\n<h2>Diplomatic Updates: Mandelson Vetting and South Africa<\/h2>\n<p>Addressing domestic political concerns, <strong>Wells<\/strong> confirmed that &quot;no part&quot; of the vetting process for <strong>Lord Mandelson<\/strong> was skipped or curtailed. The statement follows pressure from the Conservative party to publish vetting documents related to Mandelson&#39;s potential role as the <strong>UK Ambassador to the United States<\/strong>. The government maintains that the checks were thorough and followed all standard protocols for high-level diplomatic appointments.<\/p>\n<p>Simultaneously, the <strong>United States<\/strong> has solidified its diplomatic presence in Pretoria. <strong>Leo Brent Bozell III<\/strong>, a conservative activist and writer, presented his credentials to the <strong>South African government<\/strong> on Monday. <strong>Bozell<\/strong> assumes the role of <strong>US Ambassador to South Africa<\/strong> at a time of fractured relations, with his stated priorities including addressing South Africa\u2019s <strong>ICJ case against Israel<\/strong> and countering the nation&#39;s growing ties with <strong>Russia<\/strong> and <strong>China<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Paramount Global (PARA) is expected to submit a revised takeover offer for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) at $32 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[3829,4179,6495,6700,7206,8196,15360,17573],"class_list":["post-58963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-ma","tag-tariffs","tag-south-africa","tag-para-stock-para","tag-nflx-stock-nflx","tag-wbd-stock-wbd","tag-us-uk-trade","tag-lord-mandelson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}