Paramount has gone straight to Warner Bros. Discovery’s shareholders with an all-cash offer in an extraordinary endeavor to gain control of Hollywood’s most sought-after prize – a bid that Netflix beat on Friday.
Paramount was widely expected to be the frontrunner for Warner Bros. But WBD opted instead for Netflix, which it said offered a more lucrative deal. The proposed marriage with Netflix caught Hollywood insiders by surprise — including Paramount CEO David Ellison, who still contends that his deal was the better offer.
“We’re sitting on Wall Street, where cash is still king,” Ellison told CNBC in an interview Monday. “We are offering shareholders $17.6 billion more cash than the deal they currently have signed up with Netflix. And we believe when they see what is currently in our offer, then that’s what they’ll vote for.”
Paramount offered $30 per share in an all-cash deal for the entire company, while Netflix offered $27.75 for Warner Bros. and HBO — $23.25 per share in cash and $4.50 in stock.
The math is tricky, but Netflix believes the eventual spinoff of WBD’s cable assets, including CNN — which is not included in the Netflix deal — will be worth several dollars per share. In its entirety, Netflix contends that its deal will ultimately be worth more than Paramount’s offer.
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