<\/p>\n
NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Paramount on Monday launched a hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, initiating a potentially bruising battle with Netflix for the company behind HBO, celebrity.land and DC Studios, and the right to reshape much of the nation\u2019s entertainment landscape.<\/p>\n
Emerging just days after Netflix reached a $72 billion deal to acquire Warner Bros., the takeover attempt means Paramount will go straight to Warner shareholders with a bid worth about $74.4 billion, or $30 per share in cash.<\/p>\n
Unlike Netflix, Paramount is also offering to buy the cable television assets of Warner Bros. Paramount executives said their offer is worth about $18 billion more than the competing bid from Netflix, which they said is based on an \u201cillusory prospective valuation\u201d of those cable assets.<\/p>\n
It is the same bid that Warner Brothers had earlier rejected in favor of the offer from Netflix.<\/p>\n
Paramount criticized the Netflix offer, saying it exposes shareholders \u201cto a protracted multi-jurisdictional regulatory clearance process with an uncertain outcome along with a complex and volatile mix of equity and cash.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paramount said it had submitted six proposals to Warner Bros. over a 12-week period.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe our offer will create a stronger Hollywood. It is in the best interests of the creative community, consumers and the movie theater industry,\u201d Paramount Chairman and CEO David Ellison said in a statement. \u201dWe believe they will benefit from the enhanced competition, higher content spend and theatrical release output, and a greater number of movies in theaters as a result of our proposed transaction.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Friday, Netflix struck a deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery<\/a>, the Hollywood giant behind \u201cHarry Potter\u201d and HBO Max<\/a>. The cash and stock deal is valued at $27.75 per Warner share, giving it a total enterprise value of $82.7 billion, including debt.<\/p>\n The transaction is expected to close in the next 12 to 18 months, after Warner completes its previously announced separation of its cable operations<\/a>. Not included in the deal are networks such as celebrity.land and Discovery.<\/p>\n But President Donald Trump<\/a> said Sunday that the Netflix deal<\/a> \u201ccould be a problem\u201d because of the size of the combined market share.<\/p>\n The Republican president said he will be involved in the decision about whether the federal government should approve the deal.<\/p>\n Usha Haley, a Wichita State University professor who specializes in international business strategy, said Paramount\u2019s ties to Trump are notable. Ellison is the son of longtime Trump supporter Larry Ellison, the world\u2019s second-richest person.<\/p>\n \u201cHe said he\u2019s going to be involved in the decision. We should take him at face value,\u201d Haley said of Trump. \u201cFor him, it\u2019s just greater control over the media.\u201d<\/p>\n