Paramount is refusing to accept defeat in the Warner Bros. Discovery auction, launching a $78-billion hostile takeover of its rival on Monday after being spurned last week in the bidding.

The move comes four days after Warner’s board unanimously selected Netflix as the winner.

Netflix had offered $72 billion — or $27.75 a share — for a big chunk of the company: Warner Bros. film and television studios, the expansive lot in Burbank and HBO and HBO Max. Additionally, Netflix would take on more than $10 billion in Warner Bros. debt for a total deal value of $82.7 billion.

Paramount, backed by the billionaire Larry Ellison family, had entered the final week of the auction with a $25 a share all-cash offer for all of Warner Bros. Discovery, according to people involved in the auction who were not authorized to comment. In the final hours, Paramount upped its offer to $30 per share — but still came away empty handed.

Paramount confirmed Monday that it submitted its $30 per share offer just a few hours before Netflix was announced as the winner.

“We never heard back,” Paramount Chairman and Chief Executive David Ellison told CNBC Monday morning. “We’re really here to finish what we started.”

A Warner representative did not immediately provide comment.

Paramount began its pursuit of Warner in mid-September. It is now bypassing Warner’s board, management and bankers and appealing directly to shareholders in a hostile takeover. In a statement, Paramount said it’s bid was a “superior alternative” to Netflix, which will face a rigorous and lengthy anti-trust review.

Netflix declined to comment.

In a statement, Paramount called Netflix’s offer “inferior,” one that would expose Warner shareholders “to a protracted multi-jurisdictional regulatory clearance process with an uncertain outcome.” Paramount has long counted on its warm relationship with President Trump to smooth the regulatory process, at least in the U.S.

Warner Bros. Discovery continues to believe that Netflix submitted the best offer.

Netflix is not buying Warner’s basic cable channels, including CNN, TBS, Food Network and TLC, and Warner figures it can spin off those assets into a separate company, Discovery Global, that would be worth about $3 to $4 a share.

When adding the Discovery Global value with Netflix’s $27.75 a share price, Warner believes its shareholders will come away with more than $31 a share for the company — more than what Paramount has offered.

Netflix offered a cash and stock deal. On Friday, the company said it would take a year to 18 months to gain the necessary regulatory approvals. Paramount is banking on investors being concerned about possible regulatory fallout with the Netflix deal.

“Look, we’re sitting on Wall Street, where cash is still king,” Ellison told CNBC. “We are offering shareholders $17.6 billion more cash than the deal that they currently have signed up on Netflix. We believe when [Warner shareholders] see what is currently in our offer, that that’s what they’ll vote for.”

Since mid-September, Paramount submitted six bids for all of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Trump said Sunday that Netflix’s deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery “could be a problem” because of the size of the streaming service’s combined market share. Trump said he “would be involved” in his administration’s decision whether to approve any deal.

Paramount said its $30 per share all-cash offer represents a 139% premium to Warner’s $12.54 stock price on Sept. 10, the day before Paramount’s pursuit leaked in the press. With the absorption of Warner’s cable channels and its heavy debt load, the Paramount deal would have an enterprise value of $108.4 billion.

That’s roughly what AT&T paid to buy the company, then called Time Warner Inc., in 2018 after spending nearly two years fighting in court with the first Trump administration. A federal judge finally cleared the way for AT&T’s takeover but after three years the phone company wanted to flee Hollywood and made a deal with Discovery’s David Zaslav, allowing his smaller company to take over.

“The Trump card is the best card Paramount-Skydance has but it could backfire in multiple directions,” New Street Research media analyst Blair Levin said Monday in a note to investors. “As they say in Hollywood, ‘stay tuned’.”

Just like with the AT&T deal for Time Warner, the Trump administration may not have the final say. If the U.S. Justice Department sues to block the Netflix deal, the matter will go before a federal judge.

However, Paramount hired Trump’s former antitrust regulator — Makan Delrahim — to steer a successful regulatory review. Delrahim joined Paramount in October as its chief legal officer.

“We believe our offer will create a stronger Hollywood. It is in the best interests of the creative community, consumers and the movie theater industry,” Ellison said in a statement. “We believe they will benefit from the enhanced competition, higher content spend and theatrical release output, and a greater number of movies in theaters as a result of our proposed transaction.”

Paramount’s tender offer is set to expire on Jan. 8, 2026, unless it’s extended.

Shares of Warner Bros. and Paramount jumped between 5% and 6% at the opening bell on Monday. Shares of Netflix edged lower.

Staff Writer Stephen Battaglio and the Associated Press contributed to this report.