Warner Bros. fight heats up with $108-billion Paramount bid

PARAMOUNT

- 

Skydance on Monday launched a hostile bid worth $108.4 billion for Warner Bros. Discovery, in a last-ditch effort to out bid Netflix and create a media powerhouse that would challenge the dominance of the streaming giant.Netflix had emerged victorious on Friday from a weeks-long bidding war with Paramount and Comcast, securing a $72-billion equity deal for Warner Bros. Discovery’s TY, film studios and streaming assets. But Paramount's latest attempt means the jockeying for Warner Bros. and its prized HBO and DC Comics assets will not come to a conclusion swiftly.

The Warner Bros. Discovery board of directors on Monday afternoon said it would review Paramount's offer, but was not modifying its recommendation with respect to Netflix. It advised the company to “take no action at this time” in regard to the Paramount Skydance proposal.

Paramount's $30-per-share cash offer includes financing from Affinity Partners, the investment firm run by Jared Kushner, US President Donald J. Trump’s son-in-law, and several Middle Eastern government-run investment funds, and is backstopped by the Ellison family. Larry Ellison, the world’s second-richest person, is the father of Paramount head David Ellison and has close ties to the White House.

Larry Ellison called Mr. Trump after the Netflix deal was announced and told him the transaction would hurt competition, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a White House official and a person familiar with the matter.