The fight to take over the legendary Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) film studio is on its way to becoming an epochal corporate battle. Paramount Skydance, led by David Ellison, launched this Monday a hostile takeover bid (takeover bid) for Warner Bros, owner of networks such as CNN, TBS and HGTV, as well as the HBO Max streaming service. The offer comes three days after Friday with WBD studios, in an agreement that would include HBO Max.
Paramount has submitted an all-cash offer of $30 per share higher than Netflix’s ($27.75). This is an offer similar to the one Warner rejected last week.
“The offer is strategically and financially attractive to Warner Bros. shareholders and offers a superior alternative to Netflix, which offers inferior and uncertain value and exposes WBD shareholders to a lengthy multi-jurisdictional regulatory authorization process with an uncertain outcome along with a complex and volatile combination of capital and cash,” Paramount said in a statement.
Paramount Skydance is owned by David Ellison, a mediocre actor and successful Hollywood producer, who has built an empire in just one year thanks to his father, Larry Ellison, the second richest person in the world thanks to the shares of his company, Oracle.
David Ellison is the founder of Skydance, a thriving film and television production company, but modest compared to other giants in the sector. With the support of his father, he managed to close last July, after a long negotiation, the purchase for 8,000 million dollars to create an audiovisual giant with channels such as CBS, MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central.
The operation had the approval of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, who maintains fluid relations with the Ellisons, who have become one of the most important media magnates in the world at the head of a conglomerate of media, entertainment platforms and the Hollywood audiovisual industry.
Netflix, however, has received insistent attacks from the conservative MAGA (Make American Great Again) world, which supports Trump. Elon Musk, one of the figures close to the president, constantly criticizes the company based in Los Gatos, California.
Paramount Skydance’s bid is backed by equity financing from the Ellison family and private equity firm RedBird Capital, as well as $54 billion in debt commitments from Bank of America, Citi and Apollo Global Management, according to CNBC.
