Warner Bros tells Paramount to make an offer it can’t refuse
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 18 February 2026
⏱️ 12 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Meta has agreed to spend billions of dollars on millions of Nvidia’s chips, and Warner Bros Discovery has reopened sale talks with Paramount. Plus, Christine Lagarde has decided to leave her post as president of the European Central Bank early, and US offshore wind companies are racing to bring projects online that can withstand Donald Trump’s efforts to cripple the industry.
Mentioned in this podcast:
Nvidia secures multibillion-dollar Meta deal as it battles chip rivals
Warner Bros throws ownership battle open by giving Paramount a week to up its offer
US offshore wind farms try to withstand the force of Trump’s wrath
Christine Lagarde to leave the ECB before April 2027
US restaurants downsize meals to counter anti-obesity drugs and affordability crisis
Note: The FT does not use generative AI to voice its podcasts
Today’s FT News Briefing was hosted and edited by Marc Filippino, and produced by Victoria Craig. Our show was mixed by Kent Militzer. Additional help from Gavin Kallmann. Our executive producer is Topher Forhecz. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s Global Head of Audio. The show’s theme music is by Metaphor Music.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Wednesday, February 18th, and this is your FT News Briefing. |
| 0:08.7 | Two big tech giants announced a very large deal yesterday, and Paramount is getting one last chance to land Warner Brothers discovery. |
| 0:17.0 | Plus, the Trump administration tried to kill offshore wind projects, but companies are mounting a comeback. |
| 0:23.1 | The industry is kind of banking on it being a lot harder to stop a wind farm that's actually producing electricity. |
| 0:28.9 | I'm Mark Filipino, and here's the news you need to start your day. |
| 0:46.1 | Thank you. Meta will spend billions of dollars on NVIDIA chips in a multi-year deal announced yesterday. |
| 0:49.4 | It's a big break for Nvidia. |
| 0:51.2 | The company is facing more and more competition from rivals like AMD, |
| 0:55.1 | as well as customers, including Meta. The social media group is developing its own in-house |
| 0:59.9 | hardware. Last month, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the company would double its AI |
| 1:05.0 | infrastructure spending this year to a whopping $135 billion. Yesterday's announcement sent both companies share price a little higher in after-hours trading. |
| 1:14.9 | We'll get a closer look at how NVIDIA is doing when it reports quarterly earnings next week. |
| 1:25.2 | The saga overhauled by Warner Brothers Discovery has taken another twist. |
| 1:30.8 | On Tuesday, the company told Paramount it has a week to make its best and final offer for a |
| 1:35.9 | takeover, or it needs to get out of the way of Netflix's agreed $83 billion deal. |
| 1:41.5 | We have the FTs Chris Grimes, our LA Bureau Chief, to discuss whether or not |
| 1:45.8 | this will ultimately pave the way for Paramount to take control of the storied Hollywood studio. |
| 1:50.5 | Hi, Chris. Hi there. So yeah, catch us up to speed. What has been going on? |
| 1:54.9 | So what's been going on for months is basically Paramount has been trying to buy Warner Brothers discovery. Warner Brothers has rebuffed |
| 2:03.3 | multiple times, instead choosing an $83 billion bid from Netflix. And this has made Paramount |
| 2:11.1 | really frustrated. Warner Brothers has also expressed frustration that basically, if you want the company so bad, you should offer more money. |
| 2:21.0 | And so this week, Warner Brothers finally decided to reopen sale talks with Paramount. |
... |
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