Paramount is launching a hostile bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery after the company lost to Netflix in a high-stakes bidding war, the company announced Monday.
Paramount said it would offer $30 per share for the media conglomerate, which owns the Warner Bros. film studio, the cable channel HBO, the streaming service HBO Max and a portfolio of cable brands.
Netflix agreed last week to buy a large part of Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming assets for $27.75 per share. Netflix’s takeover would not include the Warner-owned cable channels.
In a news release, Paramount said its offer to Warner Bros. shareholders “provides a superior alternative to the Netflix transaction,” warning that a deal with the streaming giant risks entangling the studio in a complex regulatory process.
“WBD shareholders deserve an opportunity to consider our superior all-cash offer for their shares in the entire company,” Paramount CEO David Ellison said in a statement.
“Our public offer, which is on the same terms we provided to the Warner Bros. Discovery Board of Directors in private, provides superior value, and a more certain and quicker path to completion,” Ellison added.
Ellison acquired Paramount earlier this year in an $8 billion deal that housed the studio’s assets under his company Skydance. He is the son of Larry Ellison, a billionaire technology magnate with close ties to President Donald Trump.
Unlike Netflix’s bid, Paramount’s offer would be a all cash, backstopped by the Ellison family’s fortune. The company also said it has a $54 billion funding commitment from Bank of America, Citi and private equity firm Apollo Global. The total value of the deal would be more than $108 billion.
“We’re really here to to finish what we started,” Ellison told CNBC shortly after announcing the bid.
“When you combine the number one streamer with the number three streamer, that creates a company that has unprecedented market power, north of 400 million subscribers,” Ellison said. “The next largest competitor is Disney, with just under 200 million. That’s bad for Hollywood.”
“We believe we have the superior offer, we’re taking that directly to shareholders and we think that’s what they’re going to vote for,” Ellison said.
On Sunday, Trump said Netflix buying Warner Bros. could be an antitrust “problem.” He added that he will “be involved” in the approval process for that deal.
Trump also said that Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos had recently visited him in the Oval Office to discuss the deal, but made no promises.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
