{"id":2205160,"date":"2025-12-19T08:23:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T08:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2205160"},"modified":"2025-12-19T08:23:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T08:23:06","slug":"warner-bros-recommends-investors-reject-paramounts-offer-in-favor-of-netflixs-news-sports-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/warner-bros-recommends-investors-reject-paramounts-offer-in-favor-of-netflixs-news-sports-jobs\/","title":{"rendered":"Warner Bros recommends investors reject Paramount\u2019s offer in favor of Netflix\u2019s | News, Sports, Jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t\t\tFILE \u2013 The Netflix logo is shown in this photo from the company\u2019s website on Feb. 2, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo\/Richard Drew, File)\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

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FILE – The Netflix logo is shown in this photo from the company’s website on Feb. 2, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo\/Richard Drew, File)<\/p>\n

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Warner Bros. Discovery is recommending its shareholders reject an unsolicited buyout offer from Paramount Skydance in favor of a rival bid from Netflix it said will better serve their interests and the entertainment company\u2019s audiences.<\/p>\n

The Warner board said in a letter to shareholders on Wednesday that Paramount\u2019s \u201cinferior\u201d offer carried \u201csignificant risks and costs,\u201d in large part because it relies heavily on borrowed money \u2013 whereas the Netflix offer is backed by a company worth more than $400 billion.<\/p>\n

Warner, which owns the Warner Bros. Pictures movie studio and HBO, agreed earlier this month to a cash-and-stock offer from Netflix valued at $72 billion. As part of that deal, Warner would first spin off its its cable TV assets, including celebrity.land and Discovery. Days later, Paramount made a hostile, all-cash offer for all of Warner\u2019s properties valued at $77.9 billion.<\/p>\n

With the fate of marquee movie-making and streaming services on the line, a Warner deal with either company would face intense scrutiny from U.S. regulators.<\/p>\n

Paramount has argued that its offer \u2014 coming from a smaller company \u2014 would face an easier road with regulators. Warner\u2019s board disputed that claim in its letter to shareholders, who ultimately have the power to decide which offer to accept.<\/p>\n

Netflix offered Warner shareholders $23.25 in cash, plus $4.50 in Netflix shares, for each share of Warner. Paramount is offering $30 in cash for each share of Warner.<\/p>\n

Warner\u2019s stock price fell more than 2% Wednesday to $28.21 per share. Shares of Paramount fell 5.4%, while those of Netflix rose 0.2%.<\/p>\n

An acquisition by Netflix would be completed only after Warner finalizes its previously announced separation of its cable operations.<\/p>\n

Paramount urged Warner shareholders on Wednesday to tell the company they prefer Paramount\u2019s \u201csuperior offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to move forward to deliver this transaction, which is in the best interest of (Warner) shareholders, consumers, and the creative industries,\u201d Paramount CEO and Chairman David Ellison said.<\/p>\n

Paramount has claimed it made six different bids that Warner leadership rejected before announcing its deal with Netflix on Dec. 5.<\/p>\n

Critics of Netflix\u2019s deal say that combining the massive streaming company with Warner\u2019s HBO Max would give it overwhelming market dominance, whereas the Paramount+ streaming service is far smaller.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something that we\u2019ve heard for a long time \u2014 including when we started the streaming business,\u201d Netflix co-CEOs Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos said in a filing through Warner Bros. \u201cOur stance then and now is the same \u2014 we see this as a win for the entertainment industry, not the end of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Warner shareholders have until Jan. 8 to vote on Paramount\u2019s offer.<\/p>\n

Bids from both Netflix and Paramount have raised alarm for what they could mean for film and TV production. While Netflix has agreed to uphold Warner\u2019s contractual obligations for releasing films in theaters, critics fear the streaming giant will ultimately favor online releases. Paramount and Warner Bros. are two of the biggest studios left in Hollywood.<\/p>\n

A combination of Paramount and Warner would bring CBS and celebrity.land under the same roof. That could raise questions about news media consolidation and shifts in editorial control \u2014 as seen at CBS News leading up to and following Skydance\u2019s $8 billion purchase of Paramount, which it completed in August.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump has been vocal about his plans to play a role in regulatory approval.<\/p>\n

Trump has said Netflix\u2019s deal \u201ccould be a problem\u201d because of the potential for an outsized control of the market. The Republican president has a close relationship with Oracle\u2019s billionaire founder Larry Ellison \u2014 the father of Paramount\u2019s CEO.<\/p>\n

Affinity Partners, an investment firm run by Trump\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner, previously said it would invest in the Paramount deal. But on Tuesday, the firm announced it would be dropping out.<\/p>\n

The sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar are backing Paramount\u2019s bid, a detail some analysts say should be drawing more scrutiny.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe same U.S. officials and regulators who\u2019ve sounded alarms about China\u2019s influence on TikTok should be crying foul here,\u201d said Mike Proulx, vice president and research director at Forrester, a market research company. \u201cThe stakes on (Warner\u2019s) fate are higher and wider-reaching than a single short-form video app.\u201d<\/p>\n

Warner\u2019s board cited concern about the involvement of foreign investors in its letter to shareholders.<\/p>\n

It also was critical of Paramount\u2019s decision to use an Ellison family trust to backstop the offer for Warner, which it said is not the same thing as a \u201cfull and unconditional financing commitment.\u201d The family trust lost billions in value this month after shares of Oracle tumbled on concerns it was spending too much on artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

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NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 A posthumous memoir by one of Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s best known accusers, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, …<\/p>\n<\/article>\n

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