Paramount Launches Counteroffer for Warner Brothers Discovery

(eap) The US-based film production giant Paramount (part of the Paramount Skydance Corporation) has submitted a new offer following the announcement of the planned acquisition of Warner Brothers Discovery (WBD) by streaming provider Netflix. The company is offering WBD shareholders 30 US dollars per share in cash, corresponding to a total enterprise value of 108.4 billion US dollars. Unlike rival Netflix, whose bid amounts to 27.75 US dollars per WBD share, Paramount is also proposing a full takeover – including the cable television division Global Networks.

“WBD shareholders deserve an opportunity to consider our superior all-cash offer for their shares in the entire company. Our public offer, which is on the same terms we provided to the Warner Bros. Discovery Board of Directors in private, provides superior value, and a more certain and quicker path to completion. We believe the WBD Board of Directors is pursuing an inferior proposal which exposes shareholders to a mix of cash and stock, an uncertain future trading value of the Global Networks linear cable business and a challenging regulatory approval process. We are taking our offer directly to shareholders to give them the opportunity to act in their own best interests and maximize the value of their shares,” states David Ellison, Chairman and CEO of Paramount, who, together with other investors, had only merged Skydance Media with Paramount in a multi-billion-dollar deal in the summer of 2024, thereby becoming the new head of the film production company.

While a takeover of WBD by one of the interested buyers would result in a significant concentration in market shares, the leisure industry is particularly concerned with the potential relocation of licensing rights to IP brands and characters – including the frequently themed “DC Universe” with characters such as “Batman” and “Superman”, as well as “Harry Potter” and “Looney Tunes”. ■