This text has been automatically translated, it may contain errors or inaccuracies.

FINANCIAL OPERATION

Favorite
Remove from my list

Paramount has launched an aggressive $108.4 billion bid to buy Warner Bros, surpassing Netflix's offer

On Friday, it was reported that Netflix had purchased Warner Bros. Discovery for $82.7 billion, and this Monday Paramount Skydance presented an aggressive EEP that exceeds its bid.

paramount-skydance

Paramount Skydance on Monday presented an aggressive publicoffering for the purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) with a specific offer to shareholders of $30 per shareholder in cash.The company has valued this offer at $108.4 billion, above Netflix's proposal to buy the WBD ($27.75 in cash and shares).

Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellisonexplains the operation as follows:  "On December 1st we made an offer to the board of directors to buy the WBD. We had an interview with WBD CEO David Zaslav. He came back with some problems. On December 4th we sent an offer that responded to each of them, better than the offer they signed," Ellison explained in an interview with CNBC.



According to Ellison, today's offer is "$30 per share, all in cash, $42 billion in capital, supported by the Ellison family and RedBird, and $54 billion in debt, with commitments from Citi, Bank of America and Apollo."

It should be remembered that the Netflix platform announced last Friday that it had submitted an offer of $83 billion for the purchase of a significant portion of WBD, an agreement that has been approved by the boards of directors of both companies.

However, in response to this agreement, "Paramount gives shareholders $18 billion in cash more than Netflix's compensation," Paramount said in a statement on Monday, adding that it addresses shareholders with its offer, as WBD's board of directors is preparing to "take a more modest proposal," which would lead to "a difficult process of regulatory approval."

"We're on Wall Street, where cash is king. We're offering shareholders $17.6 billion more than their current deal with Netflix, and when they see what our offer is, we think they'll vote for it, "Ellison added.

Following today's news, Paramount Skydance shares have risen by more than 5.5%, WBD shares by almost 6%, while Netflix shares have fallen by more than 4.5%.

Ellison has warned that the deal between Netflix and WBD could also harm Hollywood, where Netflix has 310 million global subscribers: "When you combine the first streamer with the third, that creates an unprecedented market power company with more than 400 million subscribers. The next biggest competitor, Disney, has just under 200 million. That's bad for Hollywood, bad for the creative community and bad for consumers. "

You might like

Load more