{"id":363723,"date":"2025-12-22T13:52:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T13:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/363723\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T13:52:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T13:52:09","slug":"paramount-skydance-says-larry-ellison-has-made-irrevocable-personal-guarantee-of-40-4-billion-toward-warner-bros-discovery-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/363723\/","title":{"rendered":"Paramount Skydance Says Larry Ellison Has Made ‘Irrevocable Personal Guarantee’ of $40.4 Billion Toward Warner Bros. Discovery Bid"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tParamount Skydance<\/a>, seeking to reassure Warner Bros. Discovery<\/a> shareholders that its hostile takeover bid is solid, said that Larry Ellison<\/a> has made an \u201cirrevocable personal guarantee of $40.4 billion\u201d toward its $108 billion all-cash offer for WBD seeking to derail Netflix\u2019s pact.<\/p>\n

\n\tParamount, led by chairman and CEO David Ellison (Larry\u2019s son), also upped its breakup fee to match Netflix\u2019s $5.8 billion figure, payable to WBD in the event that its deal does not clear regulatory review. Paramount announced Monday that it continues to offer $30 per share in cash for 100% of the outstanding shares of WBD<\/a>, a bid that would encompass all assets and liabilities of WBD.<\/p>\n

\n\tReps for WBD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\n\tLarry Ellison, the Oracle co-founder who has a current net worth estimated at nearly $243 billion, largely bankrolled Skydance Media\u2019s $8 billion takeover of Paramount Global. That merger closed in August.<\/p>\n

\n\tDavid Ellison said in a statement issued Monday: \u201cParamount has repeatedly demonstrated its commitment to acquiring WBD. Our $30 per share, fully financed all-cash offer was on December 4th, and continues to be, the superior option to maximize value for WBD shareholders. Because of our commitment to investment and growth, our acquisition will be superior for all WBD stakeholders, as a catalyst for greater content production, greater theatrical output, and more consumer choice. We expect the board of directors of WBD to take the necessary steps to secure this value-enhancing transaction and preserve and strengthen an iconic Hollywood treasure for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Dec. 17, WBD\u2019s board officially rejected Paramount\u2019s offer<\/a>,\u00a0recommending that Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders stick to its $83 billion deal with Netflix<\/a>, under which the streaming giant would acquire Warner Bros.\u2019s TV and film studios, HBO and HBO Max, and games.<\/p>\n

\n\tSpecifically, the Warner Bros. board last week said Paramount \u201chas consistently misled WBD shareholders that its proposed transaction has a \u2018full backstop\u2019 from the Ellison family. It does not, and never has.\u201d According to the Warner Bros. Discovery board, the previous Paramount Skydance proposal on Dec. 4 included a $40.65 billion equity commitment \u201cfor which there is no Ellison family commitment of any kind. Instead, they propose that you rely on an unknown and opaque revocable trust for the certainty of this crucial deal funding.\u201d WBD said the only fix would be a personal guarantee from Larry Ellison.<\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to Paramount, WBD had not raised any concerns, including \u201cthe demand for a personal guarantee\u201d from Larry Ellison, in the 12-week period leading up to WBD agreeing to the Netflix transaction. Now, Paramount said, it \u201chas elected to address WBD\u2019s current stated concerns\u201d with an amended offer to WBD shareholders.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe improved components of Paramount Skydance\u2019s offer are: <\/p>\n

Irrevocable personal guarantee by Larry Ellison: The tech mogul has agreed to provide an irrevocable personal guarantee of $40.4 billion of the equity financing for the offer \u201cand any damages claims against Paramount.\u201d As part of that, Larry Ellison has agreed not to revoke the Ellison family trust or \u201cadversely transfer its assets during the pendency of the transaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Verification of trust assets: Paramount is publishing records confirming that the Ellison family trust owns approximately 1.16 billion shares of Oracle common stock and that all material liabilities of the Ellison family trust are publicly disclosed.<\/p>\n

Improved flexibility on WBD debt refinancing: In an effort to address WBD\u2019s \u201camorphous need for \u2018flexibility\u2019 in interim operations, Paramount\u2019s revised proposed merger agreement offers further improved flexibility to WBD on debt refinancing transactions, representations and interim operating covenants,\u201d Paramount said.<\/p>\n

Regulatory termination fee matching Netflix: Paramount will increase its regulatory reverse termination fee from $5 billion to $5.8 billion.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn connection with its enhanced offer, Paramount\u2019s direct wholly owned subsidiary, Prince Sub Inc. (the entity set up to pursue the hostile bid), is extending the expiration date of the tender offer for WBD shares to 5:00 p.m. ET on Jan. 21, 2026, unless further extended.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor Paramount\u2019s hostile bid to prevail over the Netflix agreement, both the board of directors of WBD and WBD stockholders would be required to approve it \u2014 unless Paramount receives at least 90% of the outstanding shares of WBD common stock voted in favor of the proposal.<\/p>\n

\n\tParamount has set up a website with info and updates about its WBD offer at\u00a0strongerhollywood.com<\/a>. Netflix\u2019s site with details of its agreement with Warner Bros. is at netflixwbtogether.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tInside the Fractious WBD-Paramount Deal Talks: Ellisons Offered Zaslav Pay Package Worth \u2018Several Hundred Million Dollars,\u2019 Which Zaslav Said Was \u2018Inappropriate\u2019 to Discuss<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paramount Skydance, seeking to reassure Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders that its hostile takeover bid is solid, said that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363724,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[88,69141,48502,92,10343],"class_list":{"0":"post-363723","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-larry-ellison","10":"tag-paramount-skydance","11":"tag-tv","12":"tag-warner-bros-discovery"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}