Paramount Announces ‍$108.4 Billion Hostile Takeover Bid to Acquire All of Warner Bros

Paramount launched today a $108.4 billion hostile takeover bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, just a couple of days after Netflix announced that it was acquiring the company for $82.7 billion. Unlike Netflix, however, Paramount is looking to acquire the entire company, including Discovery Global, its WBD’s Global Networks division. Paramount also claimed today that its offer provides WBD shareholders with “more value and certainty.”

Paramount’s proposal is an all-cash offer of $30.00 per share, the same terms it offered the Warner Bros. Discovery board in a previous bid on December 4. According to the company, offering $30 per share would provide shareholders $18 billion more in cash than Netflix’s deal, which offered a mix of cash ($23.25) and stock ($4.50) for a total of $27.75 per share.

David Ellison, Chairman and CEO of Paramount, issued the following statement today:

“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.”

While the terms of Paramount’s offer may look better on paper, the company said that it’s “highly confident in achieving expeditious regulatory clearance for its proposed offer,” which is doubtful. Netflix previously said that it didn’t expect the acquisition to close until the next 12-18 months, assuming regulators around the world give it the green light. However, US President Trump already said yesterday that Netflix acquiring Warner Bros “could be a problem” if the combined market share of the two companies becomes too high.