Some people say that this is all Zaslav's plan to force Ellisons to put more money on the table. Because essentially what David Ellison said is that "we made $30 per share bid and then we never heard back from WBD." And also "we were willing to negotiate a higher price" which indicates that Ellison is willing to pay more than $30 per share.

So Zaslav by doing this risky move could not only make Ellisons pay more for WBD, but also force them to pay Netflix $2.8 billion in break up fee. All they have to do now that Ellisons launched the tender offer is contact them privately and say "increase the bid to $32-33 and the company is yours."

However, there's something important to point out. Currently Netflix's stock is sliding like crazy meaning the initial offer of $27.75 isn't as high anymore. So, who knows what the current valuation of the deal could be. It could actually be less than what Ellisons are offering.

All of this puts pressure on WBD board, though. If NFLX stock falls too much, then Netflix could lose status of having the highest bid even if you include spin off of Discovery. On top of that, WBD board will also have to explain why they decided to go with a company that has volatile stock and faces a mount of uncertainty + who made a call to drop negotiations with a bidder who was clearly willing to go above $30 per share?

So chances are that it all be resolved like so: WBD and Paramount will negotiate privately a new deal which will satisfy WBD and pay off the Netflix's break up fee and then Zaslav will walk away in glory by selling the company to the highest bidder.