Tag: Paramount Skydance

ByteDance has reportedly suspended the global rollout of its new AI video generator

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A month after Seedance 2.0’s launch in China sparked cease-and-desist letters from Disney and Paramount Skydance over its use of copyrighted materials, its developer ByteDance has reportedly hit pause on the release of the AI video tool in other regions. According to The Information, which spoke to two anonymous sources with knowledge of the matter, ByteDance has suspended Seedance 2.0’s global rollout. Engadget has reached out to ByteDance for comment and will update this story if we hear back with more information.

Seedance 2.0 caught heat from Hollywood studios almost immediately upon its release, after user-generated videos including a viral AI clip of Brad Pitt fighting Tom Cruise sparked concerns that copyrighted works were used in training the model. In February, ByteDance told the BBC that it is “taking steps to strengthen current safeguards as we work to prevent the unauthorised use of intellectual property and likeness by users.” It’s unclear when exactly ByteDance planned to release the tool more widely.

David Ellison extends deadline for Warner Bros. Discovery takeover offer

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Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison is apparently still hopeful that investors will approve his $108.4 billion hostile takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. Paramount Skydance announced Thursday that it’s extending its all-cash offer to acquire the storied studio, and giving investors until February 20, 2026 to accept. The company’s previous offer expired on January 21, but with a lawsuit in the works and a revised Netflix deal to compete with, Paramount Skydance wants to stay in the conversation.

Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery originally announced their $82.7 billion acquisition agreement in December 2025. Netflix’s deal is for a significant portion, but notably not all, of Warner Bros. Discovery as it exists today. If approved, the streaming service would acquire Warner Bros. film studios, New Line Cinema, HBO, HBO Max, the company’s theme parks, game studios and select linear channels like TNT, but not the collection of reality TV and news programming that Warner Bros. Discovery calls “Global Networks.”

Paramount Skydance made its competing offer of $108.4 billion for all of Warner Bros. Discovery a few days later in December, with the recommendation that shareholders reject the Netflix deal. To add pressure, Paramount Skydance also sued Warner Bros. Discovery in January alleging that the company had not provided adequate information about why it favored Netflix over Paramount. Beyond offering more money, Paramount contends its deal is more likely to be approved by regulators because owning Warner Bros. doesn’t “entrench Netflix’s market dominance.” Warner Bros. Discovery claims that funding for Paramount’s deal “remains inadequate” and that the company is uncertain Paramount Skydance will actually be able to complete the deal.

David Ellison was previously able to merge Skydance with Paramount using the financial backing of his billionaire father Larry Ellison, and the Ellison family’s friendly relationship with the Trump administration. Promising to make sure that CBS News represents “a diversity of viewpoints” via a newly appointed ombudsman, and that the merged Paramount Skydance won’t create any diversity, equity and inclusion programs was enough to get the FCC to approve the merger. Ellison might have thought acquiring Warner Bros. Discovery would be equally easy, but at least so far that hasn’t worked out as planned.

Warner Bros. Discovery rejects Paramount’s hostile bid

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Warner Bros. Discovery’s board has formally rejected the $108 billion takeover bid from Paramount Skydance, the company announced. WBD said it remains committed to its $82.7 billion deal with Netflix, which would close some time next year, pending regulatory approval.

“[The board] has unanimously determined that the tender offer launched by Paramount Skydance on December 8, 2025 is not in the best interests of WBD and its shareholders and does not meet the criteria of a “Superior Proposal” under the terms of WBD’s merger agreement with Netflix announced on December 5, 2025,” the studio said in the press release.

Paramount’s offer was funded in part by sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi, so it could have triggered a national security review by the US government. However, Paramount said that even if those entities dropped out, the company’s owners (the Ellisons) would “backstop the full amount of the bid.”

However, the board said that Paramount “has consistently misled WBD shareholders that its proposed transaction has a ‘full backstop’ from the Ellison family. It does not, and never has,” adding that “the terms of the Netflix merger are superior.” WBD explained that Paramount is relying on an “opaque revocable trust” for said backstop which is “no replacement for a secured commitment by a controlling shareholder.” WBD’s board also noted that Paramount expects to achieve $9 billion in cost synergies from the merger, and that “would make Hollywood weaker, not stronger.”

In a statement, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said that “the Warner Bros. Discovery board reinforced that Netflix’s merger agreement is superior and that our acquisition is in the best interest of stockholders. This was a competitive process that delivered the best outcome for consumers, creators, stockholders and the broader entertainment industry.”

Paramount has yet to comment, but the company has previously said that its $30 per share offer is a better deal, due to the all-cash nature (compared to 84 percent cash for Netflix) and fact that it would have a clearer path to regulatory approval due to the Ellison’s supposedly tight relationship with President Trump.