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Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison remains committed to its bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery despite the media giant. Rejecting his three previous offersConsidering that he has a “trump card” in his back pocket that makes him the only buyer who can close the deal.
Additionally, Ellison – whose father is Oracle founder and close Donald Trump ally Larry Ellison – has reportedly expressed reluctance to overpay for rival studios and media conglomerates, believing he would not have to pay more than $25 per share for WBD because he had the chairman “in his corner.”
Fueling Ellison’s confidence that he will be able to merge Paramount with Warner Bros.’s Discovery — and combine the companies’ movie studios and streaming services — is the president’s well-known resentment toward potential rival bidder Comcast CEO Brian Roberts.
while it is known for weeks Ellison – with the support of his father, the world’s second richest man – wants to add the Warner fortune to his wealth. growing media empireIt is now clear how aggressive he is with his proposals.
A representative for Paramount declined to comment.
Earlier this week, David Zaslav, head of Warner Bros. Discovery Essentially hung “For Sale” sign on the company’s doorstep, announcing that WBD was considering various potential deals that would involve either a total sale of the company or a spinoff of various assets. Zaslav also said that this was in response to interest from several suitors.
“We took the bold step of preparing to split the company into two separate, leading media companies, Warner Bros. and Discovery Global, because we strongly believed this was the best path forward,” he announced in a statement. “It is no surprise that the significant value of our portfolio is receiving increased recognition by others in the market,” he said.
At the time of Zaslav’s announcement, both Comcast and Netflix were reported as parties interested in purchasing some or all of WBD’s assets. However, Comcast would probably only want to acquire a portion of Warner Bros., especially since it recently sold off most of its cable properties, including MSNBC and CNBC.
Earlier this year, Zaslav outlined a plan to split the company’s cable and streaming operations. A business that would include HBO, HBO Max, Warner Bros. Television, DC Studios and Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group. Other spinoffs will include cable channels CNN, Discovery, TNT Sports, TBS and Bleacher Report, and other digital properties, including streaming service Discovery+.
the new York TimesDuring this time, Reported on Wednesday The announcement that Warner Bros. was up for sale came as Ellison stepped up his takeover bids in recent weeks, culminating in an offer this month to buy the entire company for $23.50 a share.
It was this latest bid that sent the other contenders into a frenzy, who began kicking the tires to test Warner Bros.’ interest or at least force Paramount to increase its bid for the merger of the two media giants.
As Times noted“The acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount will be a tectonic shift for the industry at large”.
“It would combine the two largest Hollywood studios, Warner Bros. and Paramount, which would have a huge impact on the box office and would bring CNN and CBS News under the same corporate umbrella, giving the new company enormous influence over the news industry,” Times told. “It will combine Paramount+ and HBO Max, the two largest streaming services, bringing the company’s movies and shows into millions of living rooms.”
In a letter to Warner Bros. Discovery’s board of directors, who unanimously rejected his latest proposal, Alison wrote Paramount was “confident that we are the best partner for WBD” and was the only viable contender for the merger. He said, “Other potential acquirers of WBD – today or in the future – will need to overcome significant (perhaps insurmountable) hurdles given its dominant market position.”
While any merger attempt by a media rival would face regulatory scrutiny, which has led some potential suitors to abandon previous attempts to combine with Warner, Ellison’s message to the WBD board makes it appear that the administration will be sympathetic to Paramount.
Just a few months ago, Alison’s Skydance Media came out closed its $8 billion merger with Paramount After a politically difficult process. Before the deal received Trump administration approval, Paramount Paid 16 million dollars to the President To settle a “meritless” lawsuit 60 minutes Interview with Kamala Harris, there is a payoff Prompted a Democratic investigation Regarding potential violations of anti-bribery laws.
Trump, who claimed Ellison reached out pre-merger “Side Deal” is with him as part of the agreement praised again and again The Paramount chief and his father called him “my friend” and “my big supporter”.
Since taking over at Paramount, Ellison has also hired out Former Trump appointee appointed ombudsman for CBS News bought Anti-woke digital site The Free Press and installed Free Press founder Bari Weiss was appointed editorial leader of the news network, leading to criticism that Ellison was pushing the company in the right direction to appeal directly to the President.
According to CNN’s Brian StelterEllison is “publicly quiet but privately showing the kind of confidence that comes from having tens of billions of cash,” while Paramount argues that Ellison is the only person who can get approval from the Trump administration. “This is the trump card,” one of Ellison’s advisers told Stelter.
“Paramount is taking advantage of this relationship in its pursuit of WBD. The person involved in the negotiations said, ‘Trump’s implicit support for the deal is their number one negotiating point,'” Stelter further reported, though some Paramount insiders denied this and claimed Ellison made other pro-merger arguments in his letter to Warner Bros.
New York Post Charlie Gasparino, who is also a Fox Business correspondent, Reported this week Ellison believes he does not need to increase his offer to WBD any further because of his friendly relationship with the President.
“That’s because Ellison is being advised that US antitrust concerns and personal complaints will be a major obstacle to rival bidders – and on that front, Paramount Skydance will have President Trump’s support,” Gasparino wrote, noting that the president’s disdain for Roberts will also help Ellison.
He reported, “Sources close to Ellison say no less important is the fact that the president personally hates Brian Roberts, the chief executive of cable giant Comcast, who in many cases is the most logical rival bidder for WBD.” In fact, Trump has repeatedly attacked Roberts social media and in White House comment,
In the wake of Gasparino’s story, media reporter Tim Basinger saw It has been said on social media that mergers and acquisitions are “now based solely on whether the president likes you or not,” prompting the Fox personality to admit that “It’s strange and true.”