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A private equity firm owned by US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law has withdrawn its support from Paramount’s hostile takeover bid. warner brothers Search.
Jared Kushner’s company Affinity Partners had agreed to finance Paramount’s US$30 (£22.50) share bid for Warner Bros., which was filed just days after Warner Bros. agreed to be bought. Netflix The $72 billion (£54 billion) deal was signed in early December.
of great quality Warner Bros. is offering $30 per share in cash and will take the bid directly to investors, asking them to reject a deal with Netflix.
Paramount’s offer values Warner Bros. at $108.4 billion (£81.3 billion) including debt, which is higher than Netflix’s $27.75 (£20.81) per share offer, which values Warner Bros. at $72 billion (£54 billion), or $82.7 billion (£62 billion) including debt.
US streaming giant Netflix has agreed to buy Warner Bros. Discovery film and TV studio business, while Paramount has made a bid for the entire Warner Bros.
After Mr Trump had previously warned that Warner Bros’ Netflix acquisition “could be a problem” due to combined market share, he confirmed he would be involved in the decision on whether the US federal government should approve the deal.
In its appeal to Warner Bros. shareholders, Paramount had said its proposal would be more likely to pass regulatory scrutiny.
Mr. Kushner’s decision to withdraw his company’s financial support is being seen as taking away Paramount’s potential leverage to secure Mr. Trump’s approval for a rival bid.
Paramount’s bid still has the financial backing of a wealth fund run by three governments in the Persian Gulf, as has been widely reported saudi arabiaAbu Dhabi and Qatar.
Paramount had previously revealed that it had made six acquisition approaches to Warner Bros. in 12 weeks, but claimed that Warner Bros. “never got meaningfully involved”.
Paramount and Sky owner Comcast both lost out in the Warner Bros. auction process to Netflix, which owns hboStreaming service HBO Max and franchises like Harry Potter and Batman.
Warner Bros. is reviewing Paramount’s offer and is expected to provide investors with its decision on the bid soon.