Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The major averages sit at session lows at midday. 

Paramount Skydance's (PSKY 14.26, +0.90, +6.73%) hostile $30/share all-cash bid for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD 27.12, +1.04, +3.99%) writes a new chapter in this takeover saga, directly challenging WBD's earlier $27.75/share cash-and-stock agreement with Netflix (NFLX 96.02, -4.22, -4.21%) valued at about $82.7 billion.

The Paramount-Skydance proposal offers a richer premium, greater deal certainty, and a structurally simpler path to closing, raising the odds that WBD shareholders will push hard for serious consideration of the new offer. Netflix may also now be forced to "up the ante" by raising its bid or sweetening terms—potentially with more cash—to keep WBD shareholders onside and get its deal across the finish line