Overview
- The board voted unanimously to turn down Paramount/Skydance’s revised proposal, saying it remains inferior to the signed merger agreement with Netflix.
- Warner Bros Discovery flagged significant costs, risks and uncertainties in Paramount’s approach, noting the heavy debt financing raises the risk of failure versus the certainty of the Netflix deal.
- Paramount kept its headline price at $108 billion but altered terms, adding a $40.4 billion personal guarantee from Larry Ellison.
- Netflix’s offer targets the Warner Bros studio and HBO assets for $82.7 billion including debt ($72 billion excluding debt) after a split that would place CNN and Discovery in a new company called Discovery Global.
- Netflix welcomed the board’s “complete” and “rigorous” review, while Warner told shareholders Paramount’s bid was neither superior nor comparable and could saddle them with costs if it fell through.