Well, it doesn’t look like the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery between Netflix and Paramount Skydance is entirely over. Despite it looking like Netflix had secured a binding deal with the company, which put itself up for sale last year. There is now talk that a new version of a hostile bid that had been rejected multiple times could be humored as negotiations seemingly are being reopened.
Over the weekend, outlets like Bloomberg started reporting on a revised deal from David Ellison‘s Paramount Skydance that is aimed to quell concerns from shareholders and board members at WBD is on the table.
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The new information being relayed says that Paramount Skydance submitted amended terms last week that addressed many of the concerns with previous bids that had been ignored. Paramount Skydance is said to cover a hefty $2.8 billion fee owed to Netflix if WBD terminates its agreement with them, and is also offering to backstop a WBD debt refinancing. They’ll also compensate WBD shareholders if the deal doesn’t close by December 31 with government regulatory approval, underscoring its confidence in a speedy closing.
Some of the wild aspects of the previous hostile bid for the company (also includes control of major news outlet CNN) was getting funding from nefarious sources such as wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Abu Dhabi (foreign governments would become part owners of a U.S. news outlet), and President Trump‘s son-in-law, Jared Kushner (a HUGE conflict of interest alongside Trump telegraphing he’d illegally involve himself in the deal through his cabinet) via Affinity Partners. Kushner has since backed away with Ellison’s billionaire father Larry Ellison getting more involved (a top donor of the Trump campaign).
However, they do note from sources that the WBD board hasn’t exactly decided how to respond to this recent hostile bid from Ellison, as they still have a binding agreement with Netflix. That said, nothing is official, and if this reporting is accurate, you’ll likely hear a statement from WBD on a new meeting, and we don’t know if this will ultimately scuttle Netflix’s deal or not.
- Christopher Marc
- Christopher Marc
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