Warner Bros. Discovery Confirms It Is Reviewing Revised Paramount Offer

Warner Bros. Discovery says it is reviewing a revised acquisition offer from Paramount, an announcement that will likely rattle CNN staffers worried about the Ellison family gaining control over the cable network. In a statement Tuesday morning, WBD said it had received an updated offer from Paramount and is “reviewing it in consultation with our financial and legal advisors.”“We will update our shareholders following the Board’s review. The Netflix merger agreement remains in effect, and the Board continues to recommend in favor of the Netflix transaction,” the statement added. “WBD shareholders are advised not to take any action at this time with respect to the amended PSKY tender offer.” PSKY is the Nasdaq ticker symbol for Paramount Skydance Corporation.While WBD said in the statement that it still recommends the Netflix deal, a source told Variety that WBD was legally required to do so under the existing deal. The confirmation of the revised offer, and the decision to review it, comes after WBD opened a seven-day negotiation period for Paramount to provide its “best and final offer.”WBD’s statement did not provide details about the new Paramount offer. But Paramount has offered to pay a $2.8 billion breakup fee if WBD decides to back out of its deal with Netflix. Under the terms of Netflix’s deal, the streaming service will have four days to respond and decide whether or not to increase its offer.It is unclear whether Netflix will bump up its offer. On Friday, its chief executive officer, Ted Sarandos, suggested to Variety that he may walk away from the deal rather than engage in a bidding war. “If someone wants to make a better deal, which the Warner Bros. Discovery board has said has not happened yet, then we’ll see what happens down the road. … But the core of it is, you know, we’re super-disciplined buyers, as you probably know, we have a reputation for such, so I’m willing to walk away and let someone else overpay for things. We have a rich history of that,” Mr. Sarandos said. The renewed negotiations come after weeks of WBD dismissing Paramount’s $108.4 billion offer and vowing to stick with the Netflix deal. Netflix offered $83 billion for WBD’s streaming studio businesses, leaving its declining cable assets — including CNN — to be spun off under a separate company. Paramount argued that its offer for all of WBD is superior on the grounds that the cable assets are worthless when factoring in their debt. It also argued it had a clearer path to getting the deal approved by federal regulators.The CEO of Paramount, David Ellison, and his father, Larry Ellison, are seen as aligned with President Trump — though the president has denied that they are his friends, citing his frustration with CBS News’s harsh coverage of this administration. In another potential obstacle to the Netflix deal, Mr. Trump demanded over the weekend that the company fire a board member and former Obama adviser, Susan Rice, after she warned that corporations that “take a knee to Trump” will be “held accountable” whenever Democrats return to power.Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social, “Netflix should fire racist, Trump Deranged Susan Rice, IMMEDIATELY, or pay the consequences.”While the future of the Netflix deal hangs in the balance, staffers at CNN may be feeling a renewed sense of dread at the prospect that Mr. Ellison will acquire the network. Last year, Mr. Ellison promised that CBS News would produce unbiased journalism after he acquired Paramount and installed Bari Weiss as the network’s editor in chief in an effort to address complaints of a left-wing bias. A left-wing media reporter, Oliver Darcy, wrote in his Status newsletter last year that CNN staffers were fretting over the idea of Paramount acquiring the network. That came after the Guardian reported that the elder Ellison had a discussion with Mr. Trump about firing several CNN personalities seen as highly critical of the president. Netflix did not respond to The New York Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication.

Warner Bros. Discovery Confirms It Is Reviewing Revised Paramount Offer

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