Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
This fight is for control of warner bros.. Skydance’s Discovery Activities Continue to Strengthen Paramount expand its hostility takeover offer and redouble our efforts to influence shareholder. Paramount delays again deadline Warner shareholders have until February 20 to sell their shares, with an offer price of $77.9 billion.
The acquisition values Warner Bros. Discovery (including debt) at more than $108 billion, and the cash offer remains at $30 per share. This is the second delay since Paramount challenged a proposed merger with Warner Bros. Netflix last month. Despite these efforts, Paramount had received bids for just over 168.5 million Warner shares as of Wednesday, well below the 50% needed to gain effective control. companywith approximately 2.48 billion shares outstanding.
Warner Bros. Discovery firmly rejected Paramount’s offer. “Paramount is once again continuing to make the same offer that our board of directors has repeatedly and unanimously rejected in favor of a more generous merger agreement with Netflix,” the company said in an emailed statement. “It’s clear that our shareholders are on board,” Warner added, noting that more than 93% of shareholders to date have rejected “Paramount’s shoddy plan.”
Netflix’s rival bid in December was an all-cash bid trade Warner’s studio and streaming business is valued at $72 billion, including $83 billion including debt, or $27.75 a share, which the companies describe as simpler and is expected to expedite a shareholder vote in April.
However, Paramount insisted its offer was better than Netflix’s and accused Warner leadership of a lack of transparency with shareholders. The company claimed on Thursday that Warner’s board was “rushing to seek shareholder approval” of the Netflix merger, and warned that it could result in a reduction in shareholder payouts if debt from Warner’s previous spinoff of its network business affected its studio and streaming businesses.
In a major upgrade, Paramount is also engaged in a representation battle. Earlier this month, the company announced plans to nominate its own slate of directors to Warner’s board and has now filed preliminary materials to solicit proxies to oppose the Netflix merger.
The complexity of the bid lies in its scope. Netflix’s proposed acquisition focuses solely on Warner’s studio and streaming assets, including its production division and platforms like HBO Max. Instead, Paramount is seeking to acquire the entire company, which would bring its news and cable television operations, including CNN, under the same umbrella as CBS. If Netflix succeeds, Warner’s existing networks will be spun off into a new entity: Discovery Global.
Regardless of which acquirer wins, the sale of Warner Bros. Discovery is expected to be a lengthy process that could draw substantial antitrust scrutiny. Political considerations are also expected to come into play, with Donald Trump having previously suggested his personal involvement in approving such a deal.
Shares of Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix both fell slightly on Thursday, while shares of Paramount-Skydance rose nearly 3%.