Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. is reportedly planning to reject Paramount Skydance’s hostile takeover bid, reports Bloomberg.
The outlet says that after reviewing the Paramount bid, the Warner Bros. board still views the existing agreement with Netflix as offering greater value, certainty, and terms than Paramount has proposed.
One issue is a big chunk of the equity is comes from a revocable trust that manages the wealth of his father, Larry Ellison. A trust where assets can be withdrawn at any time.
Another is that the Paramount isn’t “offering the company enough flexibility to run its business or manage its balance sheet” for the year or more it could take for a sale to win approval from federal regulators.
The outlet’s sources say WBD’s response to Paramount’s tender offer could be filed as early as tomorrow, but no final decision has been made as yet.
Meanwhile Variety reports that Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners investment firm is no longer part of Paramount Skydance‘s acquisition bid. As recently as last week, Paramount said in an SEC filing that three Arab wealth funds and Kushner’s Affinity would be silent equity investors in the company.
Then comes another wrinkle with Empire City reporting that Paramount is potentially considering the idea of going after NBCUniversal, though that would seem unlikely given that one company can’t own two broadcast channels in the United States.
