{"id":289379,"date":"2026-02-18T04:34:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T04:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/289379\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T04:34:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T04:34:07","slug":"ted-sarandos-slams-paramount-for-spreading-misinformation-on-wbd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/289379\/","title":{"rendered":"Ted Sarandos Slams Paramount for Spreading ‘Misinformation’ on WBD"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tTed Sarandos<\/a> isn\u2019t hiding his frustration at the hurdle that emerged Tuesday in Netflix<\/a>\u2018s plan to acquire Warner Bros. and HBO Max<\/a> through an $83 billion sale agreement reached in December. <\/p>\n

\n\tSarandos told CNBC in an interview Tuesday <\/a>that Paramount Skydance has spread falsehoods designed to destabilize the Netflix transaction. Under pressure from shareholders, WBD sought a seven-day waiver from Netflix in order to begin new negotiations with the Paramount group. Netflix granted the waiver in an effort to end the uncertainty and move on with a key shareholder vote that has been set for March 20.<\/p>\n

\n\tParamount Skydance has been on a campaign of \u201cflooding the zone with misinformation, creating a bunch of what-ifs and scenarios that are very wild, and even in any end of that range, let alone the top end of that range,\u201d Sarandos told CNBC\u2019s Julia Boorstin. \u201cThe most likely outcome is, there\u2019s no adjustment at all. Warners had been very clear that their intent is to maximize cash for the shareholders.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSarandos asserted his confidence that Netflix will complete the deal, nor does he see any reasons for the federal goverment to \u201cblock the deal.\u201d He also took aim at Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison\u2019s assertions that it would have an easier path toward securing regulatory approval for the deal than Netflix, given the streaming giant\u2019s stature in entertainment\u2019s new world order.<\/p>\n

\n\tParamount Skydance \u201cdoes not have a faster regulatory path. I don\u2019t know why the Ellisons would insinuate they have some inside track in the Department of Justice, but I can assure you they don\u2019t, and that, and in terms of our regulatory in Europe and around the world, we are known entities and trusted entities with all the players in Europe,\u201d Sarandos said. \u201cAnd, in fact, our deal, by not acquiring Discovery Global, we don\u2019t disrupt the European broadcast system at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSarandos explained that granting the waiver to allow WBD to engage in talks with Paramount, despite the signed acquisition agreement, was an effort to allow the deal to move forward.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe have given the opportunity to get those shareholders exactly what they deserve, which is complete clarity and certainty about what the value of these deals are,\u201d Sarandos said. \u201cAnd what we\u2019re certain is, is that the Netflix deal to acquire these assets is the best deal, generates the best value for their shareholders. And they think so too. That\u2019s why they recommended the deal and why they reiterated recommending that deal post this. So give them seven days to put their money where their mouth is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSarandos would not get into specifics when pressed about the notion floated in WBD\u2019s Securities and Exxchange Commission filings that a Paramount source had floated the idea of raising the company\u2019s bid to $31, from $30 where it stands at present. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOur goal here is to make sure that folks take the seven days to figure out exactly where they stand. And then, on March 20, there is a vote and they will make the decision. And we\u2019re confident that the Warner Bros. Discovery<\/a> board, which continues to endorse this [Netflix] deal, and the shareholders will come to the same conclusion \u2014 that this is the best value for Warner Bros. Discovery,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ted Sarandos isn\u2019t hiding his frustration at the hurdle that emerged Tuesday in Netflix\u2018s plan to acquire Warner…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":289380,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,3484,1094,111,139,69,56326,437,3204],"class_list":{"0":"post-289379","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-hbo-max","10":"tag-netflix","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-ted-sarandos","15":"tag-tv","16":"tag-warner-bros-discovery"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289379","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=289379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}