Will David Ellison move higher than Paramount Skydance\u2019s most recent $30-per-share offer for Warner Bros. Discovery? The company didn\u2019t indicate that it is willing to increase the price tag for its hostile takeover bid but said it was ready to start M&A talks in the seven-day negotiating window opened by WBD.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough the [Warner Bros. Discovery] Board\u2019s actions are unusual, Paramount is nonetheless prepared to engage in good faith and constructive discussions,\u201d the Ellison-led company said Tuesday.<\/p>\n
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\u201cAt the same time, we will continue to advance our tender offer, maintain our solicitation in opposition to the inferior Netflix merger, and proceed with our intention to nominate a slate of directors at the upcoming WBD annual meeting,\u201d Paramount said.<\/p>\n
Earlier Tuesday, Warner Bros. Discovery said it will engage in discussions with Paramount to \u201cseek clarity\u201d on its \u201cbest and final offer.\u201d<\/a> Specifically, the Warner Bros. Discovery board cited a communication from a \u201csenior representative for PSKY\u201d to an identified WBD board member that if the WBD board authorized M&A talks, Paramount \u201cwould agree to pay $31 per share and that the offer was not PSKY\u2019s \u2018best and final\u2019 proposal.\u201d In addition, WBD set March 20 for the special meeting of shareholders to vote on the Netflix deal \u2014 which the board currently still recommends that investors vote for.<\/p>\n WBD wants Paramount Skydance \u201cto clarify your proposal, which we understand will include a WBD per share price higher than $31,\u201d Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav and board chairman Samuel Di Piazza Jr. wrote in a letter sent to Paramount\u2019s board.<\/p>\n Paramount continued press its position that its $30\/share offer for WBD in its entirety is superior to Netflix\u2019s deal to acquire WB\u2019s studios and HBO Max.<\/p>\n The WBD board \u201celected to proceed with convening its special shareholder meeting on March 20 to seek approval of the Netflix merger and has commenced mailing its proxy materials, which state that the range of merger consideration offered to WBD shareholders will be a minimum of $21.23 to a maximum of $27.75,\u201d Paramount said in its statement. \u201cBy contrast, Paramount already offers a higher value of $30 per share, all-cash and a more expeditious and certain path to closing a transaction,\u201d including with the previously disclosed addition of a \u201cticking fee\u201d of 25 cents\/share, payable per quarter to WBD shareholders after Dec. 31, 2026, if a Paramount-WBD merger has not closed by then.<\/p>\n Even as it opens the door to negotiations with Paramount, WBD\u2019s board of directors \u201ccontinues to unanimously recommend in favor of the Netflix merger,\u201d Warner Bros. Discovery said \u2014 and the board also unanimously recommends that shareholders reject Paramount Skydance\u2019s most recent offer.<\/p>\n Paramount said that with the seven-day negotiating period, WBD\u2019s board \u201chas chosen to avoid making the customary determination under the Netflix merger agreement that Paramount\u2019s superior $30 per share all-cash offer \u2018could reasonably be expected to result in\u2019 a superior proposal, which would have given it an unfettered right to negotiate without a deadline.\u201d<\/p>\n Best of Variety<\/p>\n Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Will David Ellison move higher than Paramount Skydance\u2019s most recent $30-per-share offer for Warner Bros. Discovery? The company…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,1094,111,139,69,421,437,5942],"class_list":{"0":"post-288976","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-netflix","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-paramount","14":"tag-tv","15":"tag-warner-bros"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}