Warner Bros. urges shareholders to reject Paramount Skydance’s takeover bid, pushes Netflix’s offer

The Warner Bros. Discovery Board on Wednesday urged shareholders to reject Paramount Skydance’s takeover bid, instead pushing them to accept Netflix’s offer.“Today the Warner Bros. Discovery Board sent a clear message to you, their stockholders,” the company told shareholders in a letter, The Associated Press reported. “The WBD Board urges you to reject Paramount Skydance’s unsolicited, inferior and illusory tender offer.”
Last week, Paramount Skydance launched a hostile takeover bid for WBD, asking shareholders to reject Netflix’s $72 billion deal. Netflix is offering $27.75 per WBD share, while Paramount Skydance is offering $30. Also, Netflix’s deal doesn’t include WBD’s cable operations, CNN and Discovery, while Paramount Skydance is offering to buy it all.
Paramount Skydance already owns CBS. The media company has claimed it made six different bids that the WBD Board rejected before announcing its deal with Netflix on Dec. 5.
Also, foreign sovereign wealth funds of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar are backing Paramount’s takeover bid with billions in funding.
The WBD Board said that it believes Netflix’s offer is more solid.
“There are no contingencies, no foreign sovereign wealth funds, and no stock collateral or personal loans,” the board said in its letter. “We are a scaled company with a +$400 billion market cap and a strong investment grade balance sheet. As (Warner Bros.) said, the (Paramount Skydance) offer has ‘numerous risks and uncertainties’ associated with it, among which are (Paramount’s) financial condition and creditworthiness.”
Netflix’s deal would mean HBO Max joining the company, increasing its market dominance.
“This is something that we’ve heard for a long time—including when we started the streaming business,” Netflix co-CEOs Greg Peters and Ted Sarandos said in a filing through Warner Bros. “Our stance then and now is the same—we see this as a win for the entertainment industry, not the end of it.”

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