{"id":357536,"date":"2026-01-07T18:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T18:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/357536\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T18:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T18:58:08","slug":"warner-bros-discovery-still-sounds-open-to-a-paramount-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/357536\/","title":{"rendered":"Warner Bros. Discovery Still Sounds Open to a Paramount Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWarner Bros<\/a>. Discovery may have formally rejected Paramount<\/a>\u2019s latest offer<\/a> to buy the whole company, but the WBD board has yet to fully reject Paramount as a buyer.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Wednesday, shortly after the board announced its big, fat \u201cpass\u201d on David Ellison\u2019s latest offer \u2014 and its intention to stick with the signed Netflix deal<\/a> for Warner Bros.\u2019 studios and streaming (and HBO) business \u2014 Warner Bros. Discovery<\/a> board chair Samuel Di Piazza Jr. appeared on CNBC\u2019s Squawk Box. Officially, Piazza was there so David Faber could grill him on the particulars of the decision to again reject Paramount. Unofficially, it provided an opportunity for Piazza to communicate his needs to Ellison without speaking with Ellison, a no-no with a signed agreement elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\n\tPiazza acknowledged that Paramount \u201cstepped up to the table\u201d with Ellison personally guaranteeing the proposed financing, which was one of the big things the WBD board asked for, representing \u201ca major change in their position.\u201d But \u201cultimately,\u201d Di Piazza pointed out, \u201che didn\u2019t raise the price.\u201d (In other words: \u201cSHOW ME THE MONEY!\u201d Jerry Maguire gif<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tTom Cruise talks on a phone in a scene from the film \u2018Jerry Maguire\u2019, 1996. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTriStar\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tDi Piazza has another problem that only money can solve: a $2.8 billion break-contract fee that Warner Bros. Discovery would have to pay Netflix<\/a> should it weasel out of their deal.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn the large majority of cases, when an overbidder comes in, they take that break fee and pay it,\u201d Di Piazza said. \u201cFrom our perspective, they\u2019ve got to put something on the table that is compelling and is superior.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat Paramount primarily has to put on the table is huge stacks of cash \u2014 but it\u2019s not the only thing.<\/p>\n

\n\tDi Piazza also wants \u201ccertainty that [Paramount] will close\u201d if the deal does go their way. Di Piazza stated that he sees paths for either option to pass regulatory hurdles, but currently views Netflix as the safer pick. At least he does so publicly.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith an inability to \u201cdo [Paramount\u2019s] deal for them,\u201d as Di Piazza put it, these regular, coded CNBC check-ins are about the best he can do.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think it\u2019s going to become a habit,\u201d Di Piazza told Faber. <\/p>\n

\n\tFinally, Faber asked Di Piazza what he would say to those who claim Warner Bros. Discovery \u201cjust won\u2019t do\u201d a deal with Paramount, that \u201cyou don\u2019t like them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat\u2019s nothing further from the truth. We have talked to them now since September. We\u2019ve given them lots of input on what they needed to do to change,\u201d Di Piazza responded. \u201cAt the last minute, they went to $30 (per share). And then it was after the last minute that they guaranteed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe would be very open to do a transaction with Paramount,\u201d Di Piazza said.<\/p>\n

\n\tWBD shareholders will have the final say when they vote on the deal(s) in late spring or early summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Warner Bros. Discovery may have formally rejected Paramount\u2019s latest offer to buy the whole company, but the WBD…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[96,392,3770,391,56,54,55,18199,18200],"class_list":{"0":"post-357536","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-paramount","11":"tag-tv","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom","15":"tag-warner-bros","16":"tag-warner-bros-discovery"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}