Even as Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav appeared bent on closing a mega deal with Netflix, his real plan was to reignite an Ali-Frazier-style bidding war for his company, On The Money has learned.

But one of the potential suitors, Paramount Skydance, is having second thoughts about getting in the ring, sources tell On The Money. It may put up more money to try to seal the deal to buy all of WBD, but it’s not looking to be jerked around and its plan might be to ask for a guarantee.

That’s the latest on-the-ground intel as Zas’s seven-day-window for Paramount Skydance, known as PSKY, begins ticking down while its top bankers — led by CEO David Ellison, partners at RedBird Capital and David’s dad the mega billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison — engage with Zas & Co. about a potential deal and must present the “best and final” offer.  

As we reported here, Zas wants a big number, maybe a bidding war with Netflix to get the final deal close to a $90 billion valuation. As he put it, “I wanted to put these guys in the ring together and let them duke it out,” the mercurial media mogul told one person close to the matter. “And it’s good for shareholders.”

The “guys” he’s referring to are, of course, Netflix – which had appeared to win the monthslong bidding war for WBD’s studio and streamer – and PSKY, which has launched a hostile bid to upend the deal until Zas re-opened negotiations, as On The Money first reported he would.

A person close to Zaslav tells On The Money that the CEO had long been setting the stage for Tuesday’s announcement that he is now offering Paramount Skydance one more chance to woo him and his board with a sizable bid.

But people close to PSKY say the company isn’t about to take the bait.

“They’re willing to pay more money, maybe $2 or $3 a share more, but they want guarantees that they’re not being jerked around, that the board will find some excuse to pick Netflix,” said one of these people.

A PSKY spokeswoman had no immediate comment. 

The latest action comes as  Zaslav was seemingly barreling toward a shareholder vote to approve Netflix’s $27.75 a share offer for his studio and streaming service — a $73 billion deal his board approved over what PSKY put on the table. That prompted PSKY to go “hostile” by appealing to shareholders with its tender to take over the whole company, in a $30 a share all cash bid.

At times, the mood in the board room seemed contentious — PSKY even sued Zas & Co., saying they unfairly favored Netflix because Zas was friends with Netflix chief Ted Sarandos.

Maybe, but more quietly WBD bankers were holding backdoor talks with the Ellisons — suggesting how much Zas respected them and their partners at RedBird Capital and that he was was open to a deal.

That’s when PSKY indicated they would sweeten their offer for the whole company to at least $31 a share from $30, pushing the price tag to above $80 billion. My sources say he may go higher than that if and only if he has some guarantee that Zas will recommend to his shareholders to vote for the PSKY deal.

Such a guarantee would be difficult. Under the terms met with Netflix, the streaming giant has a right of first refusal. But PSKY seems to be banking on Zas and his board getting antsy about the holes in the Netflix deals, structurally and from a regulatory standpoint. Investors, PSKY has long argued, need to roll the dice on a separate sale of the cable properties to put it above its $30 offer, which given the debt on their balance sheet might not sell for more than $1.

More existential: Layering Netflix’s No. 1 studio and No. 3 streaming services will have to get past through a skeptical DOJ antitrust department. President Trump is friends with Larry Ellison, an early MAGA supporter, and has vowed to be involved in the deal to make sure that among other things, Trump-hatting CNN is put into friendlier hands.

In recent weeks, the regulatory pushback became intense, as The Post reported, with Netflix’s entire business model coming under scrutiny for possibly being a streaming monopoly. That had Zaslav back to weighing reopening the bidding process – and getting more money out of both Netflix and PSKY.

Reps for Netflix and WBD had no immediate comment.