Paramount launches rival bid for Warner Bros Discovery

Paramount Skydance has made another offer to buy Warner Bros Discovery as it seeks to trump a rival plan from Netflix to buy the company’s studio and streaming networks.

Paramount, which is backed by the billionaire Ellison family, said it was making a direct offer to shareholders of $30 per share to scoop up the whole of Warner Bros, including its traditional television networks.

It said its proposal was a “superior alternative” to Netflix’s, delivering more cash upfront to shareholders and greater prospect of approval by regulators.

President Donald Trump has said “there could be a problem” with Netflix’s purchase, pointing to competition concerns given the size of the companies.

The hostile bid from Paramount, a smaller player than Netflix which is known for brands such as CBS News, Nickelodeon and Mission Impossible, is the latest twist in a saga that started a few months ago, when Paramount started submitting offers to buy Warner Bros.

That eventually prompted Warner Bros, owner of HBO and classics from Looney Tunes to Harry Potter, to formally open a bidding process.

Warner Bros declared Netflix the winner of that auction on Friday, announcing a deal that valued its studio and streaming networks, including HBO, at about $83bn, including its debt.

It said the sale would proceed after a planned spin-off of other parts of Warner Brothers’ business, including CNN, into an independent company.

Paramount’s offer values the entire company at $108.4bn, which it said was a better deal.

In an interview on CNBC, Mr Ellison also talked up the benefits of his plan for the media industry, arguing that Netflix’s takeover of Warner Brothers Discovery would give one firm too much power over actors and other players in the industry.

“It’s a horrible deal for Hollywood,” he said.

Mr Ellison said he had had “great conversations” with Trump about the deal and believed the president cared about competition.

Any takeover is expected to face scrutiny from competition regulators in the US and Europe.

Analysts said Netflix’s plan would likely raise concerns about dominance in streaming, while Paramount’s proposal would prompt a review of the impact on advertisers and local television distributors, given the power of a combined company over sports and children’s networks.

Paramount had been seen by many on Wall Street as a strong suitor for Warner Bros, in part because the relationship between David and Larry Ellison, who is a Republican megadonor, and Trump was expected to help ease that process.

Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is among the financial partners Paramount is working with as part of the deal, according to paperwork submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Paramount’s plan to buy all of Warner Bros was also seen as a chance to achieve both scale and potential cost-savings, putting the traditional television networks owned by both companies on a better footing.

Mr Ellison said he thought Warner Bros’ plan to spin-off its traditional networks into an independent company would set them up to fail and ultimately prove a mistake for shareholders.

“I think [its shares are] going to be worth a lot less than people are claiming,” he said.

Shares in Warner Bros jumped more than 6% in opening trade on Monday, while Paramount shares were also up.

Shares in Netflix, however, dropped more than 3%.

Netflix is the biggest streaming company in the world, with more than 300 million subscribers. It said on Friday it believed the takeover would help supercharge its business and expressed confidence in winning approval from regulators.

Analysts said the move was also defensive, aimed at making sure rivals did not get their hands on the decades of content owned by Warner Bros and turn into more viable competitors.

More than 70% of HBO Max subscribers in the US also have Netflix, according to analysts at Raymond James, who said in a report on Friday that they expected further twists in the takeover story.

Ben Barringer, head of technology research at Quilter Cheviot, said he thought the deal made more sense for Paramount than for Netflix, calling it simply a “nice-to-have” for the streamer.

“Paramount ultimately needs this deal more than Netflix,” he said. “Paramount remains a legacy entertainment provider that lacks the scale required for the modern age.”