New Delhi, Dec. 12 -- A hostile bid for a company may sound ominous, but it's usually a scare only for its management. So too in the case of US-based film studio Paramount's offer this week to buy all of Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD) for $108 billion in cash.

It was made directly to the acquisition target company's shareholders over the heads of its top managers, who had struck a deal with web-streamer Netflix, which seemed all set to buy WBD's film studio and streaming units for $83 billion in cash and stock.

Paramount's "hostility" is good for WBD's stock owners, who might benefit from a bidding war with the two rival suitors vying for their votes. Financially, analysts place both the offers roughly at par, given the difference in w...