Warner Bros. Discovery on Wednesday rejected Paramount Skydance\u2019s amended takeover offer, the latest in a series of rejections in David Ellison\u2019s pursuit of the streaming and cable giant.<\/p>\n
The media company said it remains committed to the $82.7 billion deal it reached in December to sell its streaming service, studio and HBO cable channel to Netflix.<\/p>\n
\u2018The Board unanimously determined that the Paramount\u2019s latest offer remains inferior to our merger agreement with Netflix across multiple key areas,\u2019 Warner Bros. Discovery Chairman Samuel Di Piazza said in a statement. <\/p>\n
\u2018Paramount\u2019s offer continues to provide insufficient value,\u2019 he continued. <\/p>\n
In a letter to shareholders, Di Piazza wrote that Paramount Skydance\u2019s offer carries \u2018significant costs, risks and uncertainties as compared to the Netflix merger.\u2019 The way the Paramount deal is structured creates a \u2018lack of certainty\u2019 about its finalization, he added. <\/p>\n
Di Piazza adds in the letter that if the company were to agree to the Paramount merger and it failed to close, it would result in a \u2018potentially considerable value destruction.\u2019 <\/p>\n
\u2018What matters most right now is our focus as we start the year,\u2019 Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said in a memo to employees seen by NBC News. \u2018Our operating plans remain unchanged, and our priorities for 2026 are clear and intentional.\u2019<\/p>\n
Zaslav wrote that the \u2018review was conducted with discipline and rigor, and was supported by independent financial and legal advisors.\u2019<\/p>\n
On Dec. 22, Paramount Skydance increased its offer for Warner Bros. Discovery with a personal guarantee from billionaire Larry Ellison, who was backing the financing for the deal. His son, David Ellison, is the CEO of Paramount Skydance.<\/p>\n
However, that was not enough for Warner Bros. Discovery. That beefed-up offer followed Warner Bros. Discovery\u2019s Dec. 17 public rejection of Paramount. It also preceded multiple private rejections before Paramount Skydance went public. <\/p>\n
In a statement Thursday, Paramount said it remained committed to the offer that WBD has rejected twice. \u201cWBD continues to raise issues in Paramount\u2019s offer that we have already addressed, including flexibility in interim operations,\u201d Paramount said.<\/p>\n
At stake is the future of one of the most storied media empires in the United States.<\/p>\n
The bidding by Paramount also comes amid a monumental shift in the media and streaming landscape at large. On Monday, Versant Media, the cable network spinoff from Comcast, began trading as an independent company. Shares have plunged more than 20% over the course of those two days. (Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and NBC News.)<\/p>\n
On CNBC, Di Piazza said it would be a mistake to compare Warner Bros. Discovery\u2018s cable networks to Versant. \u2018Discovery Global is different, it has a lot more scale,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
Streaming companies such as Apple, Netflix and Amazon are also challenging traditional broadcasters such as Paramount-owned CBS for sports rights. <\/p>\n
Warner Bros. Discovery controls properties ranging from CNN Worldwide and the Discovery Channel to HBO, as well as the Warner Bros. film studio and archive. <\/p>\n
Despite the back and forth between Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount, Netflix has so far proceeded with the deal it inked Dec. 5, under which the world\u2019s largest streaming company would acquire a stake in WBD. <\/p>\n
Warner\u2019s cable networks would be spun out into a separate company as part of that deal. However, Paramount Skydance wants to buy everything Warner Bros. Discovery owns. <\/p>\n
Paramount\u2019s controlling shareholders, the Ellisons, have suggested they could obtain regulatory clearance more quickly and easily than Netflix. <\/p>\n
In mid-2025, the Ellisons acquired Paramount with approval from the Trump administration. But that approval only came after CBS News agreed to pay $16 million to President Donald Trump\u2019s future presidential library over an interview that \u201c60 Minutes\u201d had conducted with then-presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n
Netflix, for its part, has met with Trump at the White House over the deal. But Trump has said either bidder poses potential problems, in his view. <\/p>\n
Netflix said in a statement that it \u2018welcomed the Warner Bros. Discovery board of directors\u2019 continued commitment to the merger agreement\u2019 the two companies reached last year. \u2018Netflix and Warner Bros. will bring together highly complementary strengths and a shared passion for storytelling,\u2019 Netflix\u2019s co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said.<\/p>\n
Di Piazza said on CNBC that the difference between Paramount\u2019s offer and that of Netflix is that Warner Bros. and Netflix already \u2018have a signed merger agreement\u2019 that has \u2018a clear path to closing.\u2019 Di Piazza also said the Netflix deal offers \u2018protections for our shareholders, if something stops the close, whatever that might be.\u2019<\/p>\n
Trump has said he will be personally involved in reviewing whichever merger proceeds.<\/p>\n
Paramount did not immediately respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n\n
Warner Bros. Discovery on Wednesday rejected Paramount Skydance\u2019s amended takeover offer, the latest in a series of rejections in David Ellison\u2019s pursuit of the streaming and cable giant. The media company said it remains committed to the $82.7 billion deal it reached in December to sell its streaming service, studio and HBO cable channel to <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":36742,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-36741","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanfinancecore.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}