Warner Bros. Discovery has unanimously rejected Paramount Skydance’s $108.4 billion takeover bid.
Chair of the Warner Bros. Discovery Board of Directors, Samuel A. Di Piazza Jr., commented on Paramount’s attempt, saying the offer “continues to provide insufficient value, including terms such as an extraordinary amount of debt financing that create risks to close and lack of protections for our shareholders if a transaction is not completed.” Di Piazza Jr. reiterated his support for the Netflix merger, stating that it “will offer superior value at greater levels of certainty.”
Under the Netflix agreement, Warner Bros. Discovery’s film and television studios and HBO Max would be acquired by Netflix, while linear networks such as CNN and Discovery would be spun off into a separate publicly traded company.
Paramount revised its proposal by adding a $5.8 billion reverse termination fee and a personal equity financing guarantee of more than $40 billion from Larry Ellison. Despite these changes, WBD’s board maintains that the bid does not meet the definition of a “Superior Proposal” under the existing Netflix agreement.
Paramount has not formally withdrawn its offer, and the process is expected to continue until the January 21 deadline.
