Warner Bros. Discovery’s (WBD) board of directors on Wednesday “unanimously” rejected the latest takeover offer from Paramount Skydance (PSKY) as “inferior” to the Netflix merger deal “in numerous key respects.”
“The Board unanimously determined that Paramount’s latest offer remains inferior to our merger agreement with Netflix in multiple key areas,” said Samuel A Di Piazza, Jr, chairman of the board of Warner Bros. Discovery, in a statement.
The New York conglomerate’s body determined that the modification of Paramount’s proposal, submitted last December 22, does not trump the merger agreement reached with Netflix on December 5 and has a higher risk of not closing.
“Paramount’s offer continues to offer insufficient value, including conditions such as extraordinary debt financing that create risks to the closing and a lack of protections for our shareholders if the transaction is not completed,” the chairman added.
Warner Bros. to be sold to Netflix
He said the Netflix deal will offer “superior value with higher levels of certainty, without the significant risks and costs” that he believes Paramount’s offer would pose to its shareholders.
Late in the year, billionaire tycoon Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle and father of Paramount CEO David Ellison, offered a $40.4 billion personal guarantee to acquire Warner, but held out on an offer to acquire the entire company for $30 per share in cash, bringing it to $108.4 billion.
This news came a week after Warner’s board rejected the public offer made by Paramount as insufficient to that of the red platform.
WBD reached an agreement with Netflix earlier this month to sell the company for $82.7 billion, including debt. Paramount then entered the stage with its hostile bid.
Although on paper PSKY’s offer is higher than Netflix’s, Warner’s board sees the pact with the streaming platform as less risky, reported Agencia EFE.
Find out more at ‘QueOnnda.com’.
