The Warner Bros. Discovery board is reportedly ready to reject Paramount Skydance’s recently amended takeover offer.
The offer was made by David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance on December 22nd with a surprising amount of public fanfare and with the news that David’s father and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison had made an “irrevocable personal guarantee of $40.4 billion” toward the company’s $108 billion all-cash offer for Warner Bros. Discovery.
Bloomberg News reports that the board will meet next week and vote on a response to Paramount’s offer, which is for the entire WBD business. Previously, there have been concerns about the sources of Paramount’s financing.
It’s expected the board will reject the amended offer in favour of the existing agreement to merge with Netflix in a deal valued at more than $80 billion for the streaming/studio part of the business.
Many have been wondering just how far Paramount is willing to go. Warner Bros. Discovery shares have skyrocketed in the past year after all this, rising more than 170%.
Paramount’s amended offer also pushed up the breakup fee to match Netflix’s $5.8 billion figure, payable to WBD in the event the deal does not clear regulatory review.
