Warner Bros Discovery on Wednesday rejected a hostile takeover bid by Paramount launched last week to thwart plans by streaming giant Netflix to acquire the Hollywood giant and owner of CNN.
The Warner Bros board said it found Paramount’s offer “inferior” to the merger agreement with Netflix. It added that the Paramount bid “once again fails to address key concerns that we have consistently communicated … throughout our extensive engagement and review of their six previous proposals”.
“We are confident that our merger with Netflix represents superior, more certain value for our shareholders,” it said.
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Netflix shocked the industry on December 5, by announcing it had sealed an agreement to buy the film and television studio for nearly US$83 billion, the entertainment industry’s biggest consolidation deal this decade.
Three days later, Paramount – whose CEO is David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison, an ally of Donald Trump – launched an all-cash tender offer valuing the entertainment giant at US$108.4 billion.
But Warner Bros Discovery on Wednesday described the Paramount offer as risky, saying it was backed up by “an unknown and opaque revocable trust” and involved “no Ellison family commitment of any kind”, among other factors.
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