US EditionWarner Bros. Plans to Reject Paramount Offer, Back Existing Netflix Deal: Report
Warner Bros. Discovery board cites concerns about Paramount’s financing and regulatory risks, favoring Netflix’s $83 billion deal for greater long-term value and certainty.
- The WBD board is preparing to urge shareholders to reject Paramount Skydance's $108.4 billion hostile takeover and plans to back Netflix's existing deal by Wednesday.
- Board members cite financing and structural concerns, noting Paramount Skydance's reliance on $41 billion equity, $54 billion debt from Bank of America, Citi and Apollo, and withdrawn $1 billion Tencent funding.
- Paramount CEO David Ellison launched a $30-per-share, all-cash tender offer directly to Warner shareholders after Netflix earlier this month emerged with a $27 cash-and-stock bid.
- On Tuesday, Affinity Partners withdrew backing, removing a political-financing advantage linked to Jared Kushner and President Donald Trump; WBD shares dipped before closing at $28.90 as Netflix could gain Warner content library if Paramount is rejected.
- Analysts this month say a renewed bidding war looks inevitable as Paramount may raise its $30 offer, while President Donald Trump and U.S. regulators could prolong approval and worry the board.
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118 Articles
Unlike Netflix, which proposes to buy, for the most part, only the Warner Bros studio and the HBO Max streaming platform for 72 billion dollars, Paramount Skydance aims to acquire the whole of WBD. It is its sixth rejected offer.
The takeover of Warner Bros Discovery is a source of tension. Paramount Skydance has proposed $108.4 billion, but the board of directors could oppose it. And Affinity Partners, investment firm...
The takeover fight for Warner Bros. is becoming more and more political: Donald Trump's son-in-law is now drawing the line. Was it billions – or the critical news channel CNN?
One of Paramount's financial partners, held by Donald Trump's generations, Jared Kushner, is withdrawing from the war on the basis of the information according to which Warner Bros' administration council would prefer Netflix, via Sky News.
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