David Ellison isn\u2019t taking David Zaslav\u2019s bait.<\/p>\n
The CEO of Paramount Skydance is extending a Jan. 21 deadline for shareholders of Warner Bros. Discovery to accept his \u201chostile\u201d offer for the company \u2013 but isn\u2019t raising the $30-a-share price, On The Money has learned.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, WBD\u2019s wily CEO Zaslav not only touted that he\u2019s getting all cash with Netflix\u2019s $72 billion \u201cwinning\u201d bid<\/a> for his studio and streamer. He also tried to turn up the heat on PSKY CEO Ellison, moving up a shareholder vote on the Netflix deal to as early as February versus its previous slot in May, sources say.\u00a0<\/p>\n Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison is extending a Jan. 21 deadline for shareholders of Warner Bros. Discovery to accept his \u201chostile\u201d offer for the company. REUTERS<\/p>\n \u201cNo more fooling around with lawsuits and other kinds of bulls\u2013t,\u201d one WBD insider familiar with Zaslav\u2019s thinking said. \u201cEither come to the table with more money or go home.\u201d<\/p>\n But On The Money has also learned that Ellison \u2013 partnered with his dad, the tech tycoon Larry Ellison, and RedBird Capital\u2019s Gerry Cardinale \u2013 isn\u2019t going anywhere anytime soon.<\/p>\n \t\t\tMore From\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCharles Gasparino<\/p>\n In the next 24 hours he and his team plan to extend their Jan. 21 \u201ctender deadline\u201d giving them more time to convince shareholders to ditch the Netflix offer over theirs. They\u2019re also pressing ahead with a lawsuit designed to show Zas held an unfair bidding process, skewing the deal toward Netflix because of his friendship with the streamer\u2019s CEO Ted Sarandos.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear for how long the deadline will be pushed off.<\/p>\n Paramount is also pressing ahead with a lawsuit designed to show David Zaslav, right, held an unfair bidding process, skewing the deal toward Netflix because of his friendship with the streamer\u2019s CEO Ted Sarandos, left. Chris Pizzello\/Invision\/AP<\/p>\n \u201c(They\u2019re) extending the deal in and there is no new money coming as of now,\u201d is how one deal insider described the tense deal negotiations.<\/p>\n That might soon change, of course, as On The Money has reported. PSKY has internal plans to pay as high as $33 a share<\/a> bringing the total deal cost around $80 billion if need be. Such an offer would be difficult for Netflix to match since it\u2019s paying $27.75 a share recently tweaked to all cash, plus promising $3 a share for WBDs cable properties like CNN and TNT, a spin off that many investors say might not hit that bogey given the recently audience declines of cable TV.<\/p>\n