{"id":182395,"date":"2025-12-09T05:50:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T05:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/182395\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T05:50:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T05:50:13","slug":"paramount-gatecrashes-warner-bros-netflix-deal-with-108bn-hostile-bid-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/182395\/","title":{"rendered":"Paramount gatecrashes Warner Bros-Netflix deal with $108bn hostile bid \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paramount<\/a> has launched a $108 billion (\u20ac93 billion) hostile bid to buy Warner Bros Discovery<\/a>, partnering with Middle East sovereign wealth funds and US president Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner to derail Netflix\u2019s agreed deal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The all-cash offer for the whole of Warner, including its studio, streaming and cable businesses, values the media group at $30 a share, which Paramount said it was offering $18 billion more in cash, with chief executive David Ellison criticising Netflix\u2019s \u201cinferior proposal\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Ellison family and RedBird Capital have committed to backstop the entire $40.7 billion of equity capital required for the deal, Paramount said, adding that financing would also come from Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar sovereign wealth funds as well as from Kushner\u2019s Affinity Partners.<\/p>\n

Following a three-month auction process, which was kicked off by Paramount\u2019s initial bid for Warner, Netflix last week sealed an $82.7 billion deal to buy the media giant\u2019s studio assets and its HBO Max streaming service.<\/p>\n

Netflix\u2019s deal, which would reshape Hollywood by putting a technology company at the helm of one of the most famous studios, had already drawn the ire of powerful unions and the attention of Mr Trump, who said on Sunday that he would be involved in reviewing the transaction.<\/p>\n

Netflix\u2019s deal valued Warner\u2019s studio and streaming assets at $27.75 a share, and excluded its cable assets such as Discovery and CNN, which Warner plans to spin off next year.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Netflix agrees takeover of Warner Bros DiscoveryOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Paramount is seeking to win over Warner shareholders by fuelling doubt about Netflix\u2019s ability to secure antitrust approval. The streaming company said that it would need between 12 and 18 months to win regulatory consent, which Paramount on Monday called an \u201cunrealistic assumption\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ellison, son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, said on Monday that if Netflix was allowed to buy Warner, \u201cthere will be no more competition in Hollywood\u201d. He also added in an interview on CNBC that Mr Trump would be supportive of the most competitive deal.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump said on Sunday that Netflix\u2019s acquisition of Warner\u2019s streaming and studio assets \u201ccould be a problem\u201d given Netflix\u2019s \u201cvery big market share\u201d. However, Mr Trump also praised Netflix\u2019s Ted Sarandos as a \u201cgreat person\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"Will the Government\u2019s new plan speed up the delivery of vital infrastructure projects? <\/p>\n

Paramount added that the Middle East funds and Kushner\u2019s group had agreed to forgo governance rights \u2013 including board seats \u2013 and so their participation should not lead to the deal being reviewed on national security grounds. Bank of America, Citigroup and Apollo had provided $54 billion of debt commitments, Paramount said.<\/p>\n

Despite submitting six proposals over 12 weeks, Paramount argued that Warner \u201cnever engaged meaningfully\u201d with its offers. \u201cParamount has now taken its offer directly to WBD shareholders and its board of directors to ensure they have the opportunity to pursue this clearly superior alternative,\u201d it added in a statement.<\/p>\n

Netflix will continue to press ahead with its own deal for the studios and streaming parts of Warner, according to people close to the talks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was always going to happen \u2013 it was just a case of when,\u201d said one person familiar with Netflix\u2019s position who said that the streamer was comfortable with the position of both the White House and US regulators on the deal.<\/p>\n

If Warner breaks off the agreement with Netflix, it may be on the hook to pay a $2.8 billion break fee to the streamer.<\/p>\n

One person familiar with the matter said that the Paramount offer was the same as its final pitch during last week\u2019s auction. This person added that WBD did not respond to that approach.<\/p>\n

Warner\u2019s board had decided to opt for Netflix late on Thursday on the basis that the offer of the movie streaming giant offered greater certainty and was the most accommodating bidder to the company\u2019s demands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe board\u2019s overriding priority more than valuation was choosing a bidder that could sign immediately, withstand regulatory scrutiny, and close on the terms required,\u201d said a person close to Warner.<\/p>\n

Warner\u2019s share price rose 6.4 per cent to $27.76 in early trading, while Paramount shares rose 4 per cent to $13.92. Netflix shares fell 4.2 per cent to $96.05. \u2013 Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paramount has launched a $108 billion (\u20ac93 billion) hostile bid to buy Warner Bros Discovery, partnering with Middle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182396,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,969,61,60,1868,3282,12481],"class_list":{"0":"post-182395","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-netflix","13":"tag-paramount","14":"tag-warner-bros-discovery"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}