Overview
- The board unanimously urged investors to reject Paramount Skydance’s $30‑per‑share hostile tender and reaffirmed support for Netflix’s $82.7 billion agreement.
- Warner Bros. Discovery said the Paramount plan would create roughly $87 billion of pro forma debt, requiring more than $50 billion of new borrowing and constituting what it calls the largest leveraged buyout in history.
- Switching from the Netflix agreement would impose about $4.7 billion in termination and financing costs, leaving an estimated $1.1 billion net even with Paramount’s $5.8 billion reverse termination fee if that deal failed.
- Netflix’s offer covers the studios, HBO and HBO Max with a planned spin‑off of cable networks into Discovery Global, while Paramount seeks the entire company and disputes the value of those cable assets.
- Paramount reiterated that its fully financed all‑cash bid is superior, citing Larry Ellison’s $40.4 billion personal equity guarantee and arguing Netflix’s stock‑linked value has slipped, as both transactions head into extensive regulatory and political scrutiny with the tender open until Jan. 21.