Washington DC - Paramount on Monday launched an all-cash tender offer on Monday to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, the Hollywood giant that also owns CNN, in a challenge to Netflix's own highly contested deal.

The hostile offer sets up a furious battle between Paramount – whose owner Larry Ellison is an ally of Donald Trump – and streaming behemoth Netflix to buy one of Hollywood's most storied studios.

Netflix shocked the industry last week by announcing it had sealed an agreement to buy the Warner Bros. studio, drawing bitter reactions from voices in Hollywood worried about the future of their industry.

Trump weighed in on Sunday, saying Netflix's deal "could be a problem" as it would be left with a huge market share of the film and TV industry. He also said he would be "involved" in the decision.

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"We're really here to finish what we started," David Ellison, chairman and CEO of Paramount, told CNBC as his company made a sixth offer for Warner Bros. since a bidding war began in September.

Unlike Netflix's offer, Paramount's latest bid includes the buyout of cable channels such as CNN, TNT, TBS, and Discovery – which would be added to its group of TV assets like CBS, MTV, and Comedy Central.

The offer values the entertainment giant at $108.4 billion and represents a 139% premium over WBD's September stock price of $12.54, when the bidding war began.

Paramount in a statement called Netflix's bid, which values Warner Bros. studios at nearly $83 billion, "inferior and uncertain."

"WBD shareholders deserve an opportunity to consider our superior all-cash offer," Ellison said.

Netflix declined a request for comment from AFP.