"Paramount is now going directly to shareholders, offering $30 per share to acquire "all of the outstanding shares" of WBD. That values the company at a total of $108 billion, versus the Netflix deal, which the Paramount press release claims "offers inferior and uncertain value" and could potentially be halted by Donald Trump's Federal Trade Commission for being monopolistic. Trump said on December 8 that the deal "could be a problem," per CNBC."
""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."
"David Ellison and his father, Larry, who is worth $365 billion, are close to the president, and under Trump, the FTC allowed the family to buy Paramount earlier this year. Plus, Paramount's $24 billion in debt financing comes from sovereign wealth funds based in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, per The Hollywood Reporter, as well as from Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners."
Paramount launched a hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery on December 8, offering $30 per share to acquire all outstanding shares and valuing WBD at $108 billion. Paramount contends its all-cash proposal delivers superior and more certain value compared with Netflix's $83 million deal and argues the Netflix transaction faces potential FTC regulatory obstacles. Paramount cites backing from $24 billion in debt financing sourced from sovereign wealth funds in Saudi Arabia and Qatar and from Affinity Partners. Paramount moved to take its offer directly to shareholders after WBD's board favored the Netflix proposal.
Read at Vulture
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