Paramount Beats Netflix in Months-Long Fight for Warner Bros. скачать в хорошем качестве

Paramount Beats Netflix in Months-Long Fight for Warner Bros.

Paramount Skydance Corp. finally clinched its deal for Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., outmaneuvering its rival Netflix Inc. after a months-long battle by agreeing to pay $111 billion for the legendary Hollywood studio. The victory for Paramount Chief Executive Officer David Ellison was hard won, requiring multiple bids over more than five months, visits to Washington, meetings with shareholders and President Donald Trump and the personal backing of his billionaire father Larry Ellison.  Netflix bowed out of its $82.7 billion offer for Warner Bros.’ studio and streaming business on Thursday after the board declared a recent Hail Mary bid from Paramount for the whole company was superior. The dramatic eleventh-hour turnaround would give the Ellison family control of one of the most powerful media empires in the world, uniting two Hollywood studios behind legendary films from Casablanca and Harry Potter to Mission: Impossible; two major news networks in CNN and CBS; the streaming powerhouse HBO and dozens of cable networks.  “Once our board votes to adopt the Paramount merger agreement, it will create tremendous value for our shareholders,” Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav said in a statement. “We are excited about the potential of a combined Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery and can’t wait to get started working together telling the stories that move the world.” Just months ago, it seemed as if the increasingly hostile relations between Warner Bros. and Paramount had reached an irreparable low. After apparently losing the fight to Netflix in December, Paramount launched a multipronged campaign to get back in the game. Paramount threatened Warner Bros. with legal action for failing to carry out a fair sale process. The company began a tender offer for Warner Bros. shares and was poised for a proxy fight at the next annual meeting. Zaslav, meanwhile, stopped responding to Ellison’s messages. Warner Bros. announced Netflix’s bid as clearly superior and repeatedly rebuffed Paramount’s attempts at reviving talks. But last week Paramount slipped in one more offer and suggested it would be open to raising its price by $1 a share and agreed to pay the $2.8 billion termination fee Warner Bros. would be required to pay Netflix for bowing out, as well as other sweeteners.  Netflix, which had clinched a deal with Warner Bros. in December for $27.75 a share for most of the company except the cable business, granted a waiver for Warner Bros.’ board to open talks with Paramount for seven days. Negotiating down to the wire, Warner Bros. in the end determined that Paramount’s offer was indeed superior. “We’ve always been disciplined, and at the price required to match Paramount Skydance’s latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive,” Netflix said Thursday in a statement. Instead, it will keep investing in its business, including about $20 billion this year on films, TV shows and other entertainment offerings. Netflix shares were up 8.8% in premarket trading in New York on Friday, indicating that investors were happy to see the company walk away from the deal. Warner Bros. shares, which have gained 130% since Paramount’s interest became known last September, fell, with investors no longer anticipating a bidding war. Paramount shares were up 4.1% early Friday.  The streaming industry leader said that while it believed its offer would have passed muster with regulators and created shareholder value, it didn’t want to pay more. Netflix’s decision not to raise its offer “has paved the way for shareholders to receive meaningfully more cash and a truly viable path to government approvals,” Ancora Holdings Group, an activist investor in Warner Bros., said in a statement. “This is a win-win for shareholders and the industry.” The takeover fight has been contentious, in Hollywood and in Washington. Both Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos and Ellison made pilgrimages to the US capital this week to meet with lawmakers.  Sarandos spent about an hour on Thursday with officials in the Trump administration.  “I’m not doing press today,” he said upon leaving the White House.  -------- Watch Bloomberg Radio LIVE on YouTube Weekdays 7am-6pm ET WATCH HERE: http://bit.ly/3vTiACF Follow us on X:   / bloombergradio   Subscribe to our Podcasts: Bloomberg Daybreak: http://bit.ly/3DWYoAN Bloomberg Surveillance: http://bit.ly/3OPtReI Bloomberg Intelligence: http://bit.ly/3YrBfOi Balance of Power: http://bit.ly/3OO8eLC Bloomberg Businessweek: http://bit.ly/3IPl60i Listen on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app: Apple CarPlay: https://apple.co/486mghI Android Auto: https://bit.ly/49benZy Visit our YouTube channels: Bloomberg Podcasts:    / bloombergpodcasts   Bloomberg Television:    / @markets   Bloomberg Originals:    / bloomberg   Quicktake:    / @bloombergquicktake