The US media group Warner Bros. Discovery has… Bidding dispute over its takeover for the purchase offer from Netflix pronounced. As the company’s board of directors announced in a letter to shareholders, it rejected the billion-dollar offer Paramount Skydance back. Instead, he prefers the offer of Streaming competitor Netflix.
Specifically, that’s what it offers Paramount bid for $108.4 billion no sufficient financing guarantee. By claiming that the $30 per share cash offer was fully guaranteed, Paramount “consistently misled” shareholders. “It is not and never has been,” the board wrote. The financing is not secured, as claimed by the family of billionaire and Oracle boss Larry Ellison. Instead, the offer is based on an “unknown and opaque” trust.
There are also concerns about debt in the event of a takeover by Paramount. The planned savings of $9 billion through synergies would also lead to a new round of job cuts that would “make Hollywood weaker, not stronger.” Last week, Paramount argued in a direct appeal to shareholders that it had arranged “watertight financing.”
Is Netflix’s offering superior?
In general, Paramount’s offer was “not in WBD’s interest,” the board wrote. He recommended that Warner Bros. shareholders accept Netflix’s competitive offer. In contrast, this is a binding agreement that does not require any equity and is based on solid debt commitments.
At the beginning of the month, Netflix submitted a bid totaling almost 83 billion US dollars or around 71 billion euros. This applied to Warner Bros’ business areas outside of cable television. Netflix initially reported completion. Paramount boss David Ellison then made a counteroffer directly to Warner Bros shareholders because it was a hostile takeover offer. The total value of the offer was 108 billion US dollars or around 92 billion euros. The bid applied to the entire company.
The acquisition also involves an extensive film and television library with classics such as Casablanca and series like Friends as well as the streaming service HBO Max. The bidding war also has a spicy political component: Netflix is close to the Democratic Party, while Paramount boss David Ellison is the son of Larry Ellison, an ally of US President Donald Trump. Trump had questioned Netflix’s takeover plans and justified this with the streaming provider’s “very large market share”. Trump is also insisting that the television channel CNN, which he has sharply criticized several times in the past, be sold.
