US EditionParamount Sticks with $30-per-Share Bid as WBD Backs Netflix Deal
Warner Bros. Discovery's board cited $87 billion debt risk in rejecting Paramount's $108 billion bid, favoring Netflix's $82.7 billion offer with fewer financial risks.
- On Dec. 23, Warner Bros. Discovery's WBD-Q board unanimously rejected Paramount Skydance's revised US$108.4-billion hostile bid and reaffirmed its commitment to Netflix's US$82.7-billion deal.
- The Warner Bros. board said the offer depends on an extraordinary amount of debt financing that would saddle the studio with US$87-billion in debt, weakening credit ratings and straining cash flow.
- Disagreement over cable channel values and financing clarity sharpened shareholder concerns as analysts valued the Discovery Global spin‑off up to US$4 per share versus Paramount's US$1 and Harris Oakmark called Paramount's offer insufficient.
- Warner Bros. warned of roughly US$4.7-billion in additional costs to exit the Netflix agreement, or US$1.79 per share, while Warner Bros. shares slipped to $28.3 premarket and Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters welcomed the choice.
- The fight has become Hollywood's most closely watched takeover battle as studios scale up amid intensifying streaming competition for franchises like Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Friends and the DC Comics universe, which could reshape competition with Disney and merge major television operators and streaming platforms.
33 Articles
33 Articles
Paramount Skydance Corp. reaffirmed its offer to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. for $30 a share in cash and insisted that its hostile proposal is superior to that presented by Netflix Inc., after several rejections by the company. Paramount’s offer “represents the best way forward” for Warner Bros. shareholders, the company said in a statement issued on Thursday. The company said it has “subsided each of the problems raised” by Warner Bros.…
Paramount again tells Warner Bros its offer trumps Netflix's
Warner Bros Discovery's board on Wednesday rejected Paramount's amended hostile offer that included a $40 billion in equity personally guaranteed by Oracle's co-founder Larry Ellison, the father of Paramount CEO David Ellison, and $54 billion in debt.
Warner Bros. Discovery determined that Paramount Skydance's amended acquisition bid is lower than the agreement it already has with Netflix and urged its shareholders not to offer its shares to the intruder.The media company's board of directors stated on Wednesday in a letter to shareholders that Paramount's offer does not offer enough value and that it doubts that it can close the deal. Paramount presented an offer reiterating a plan to buy sh…
Paramount proposed to buy back its competitor for $108 billion, including a personal guarantee of $40.4 billion from billionaire Larry Ellison, whose son David runs the studio.
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