Warner Bros board turns down Paramount’s latest buyout bid

Warner Bros Discovery, which agreed last month to sell most of its business to Netflix, advised its shareholders on Wednesday to reject Paramount's latest rival bid.

- LAUREN HIRSCH

Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) advised its shareholders Wednesday to reject Paramount's latest takeover offer, arguing that even a personal commitment from one of the world’s richest men is not enough to make up for the deal’s complex financing.

The announcement raises another roadblock in the aggressive, months-long effort by Paramount CEO David Ellison and his billionaire father, Larry, to buy Warner Bros Discovery to better compete with streaming giants like Netflix, Disney and Amazon.

Warner Bros Discovery announced a deal in December to sell much of its business to Netflix for $83 billion, shocking much of the entertainment industry. Warner said Netflix’s offer, for its TV and movie studios, was a better deal than Paramount's proposal to acquire the full company.

Paramount has since made a hostile bid, taking its case to shareholders. It has also proposed a deal for which Larry Ellison, a co-founder of Oracle, has personally guaranteed $40 billion in equity.