Paramount launched a hostile bid Monday for Warner Bros. Discovery worth an estimated $74.4 billion, which it will take directly to shareholders, challenging Netflix , which reached a $82.7 billion takeover deal with the company, just three days ago on Friday.
Describing the Netflix offer as inferior, Paramount ‘s CEO David Ellison announced an offer of $30 per share in cash. which sets the stage for a battle of corporate titans with the sort of Hollywood intrigue usually seen in scripts. .
“WBD shareholders deserve an opportunity to consider our superior all-cash offer for their shares in the entire company,” David Ellison, said Chairman and CEO of Paramount. ”Our public offer, which is on the same terms we provided to the Warner Bros. Discovery Board of Directors in private, provides superior value, and a more certain and quicker path to completion. We believe the WBD Board of Directors is pursuing an inferior proposal which exposes shareholders to a mix of cash and stock, an uncertain future trading value of the Global Networks linear cable business and a challenging regulatory approval process. We are taking our offer directly to shareholders to give them the opportunity to act in their own best interests and maximize the value of their shares.”