NEW YORK — Paramount has gone hostile in its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, challenging Netflix which reached a $72 billion takeover deal with the company just days ago.
Paramount said Monday that it is going straight to Warner Bros. shareholders with a bid worth about $74.4 billion, or $30 per share in cash. Paramount, unlike Netflix, is also offering to buy the cable assets of Warner Bros., and asking shareholders of the company to reject the Netflix bid.
It said its offer is worth about $18 billion more than the competing bid from Netflix, which it says is based on an ''illusory prospective valuation" of those cable assets.
It is the same bid that Warner Brothers rejected in favor of the offer from Netflix in a merger that would alter the U.S. entertainment landscape.
Paramount criticized the Netflix offer, saying it ''exposes WBD shareholders to a protracted multi-jurisdictional regulatory clearance process with an uncertain outcome along with a complex and volatile mix of equity and cash.''
Paramount said it had submitted six proposals to Warner Bros. Discovery over a 12 week period.
''We believe our offer will create a stronger Hollywood. It is in the best interests of the creative community, consumers and the movie theater industry," Paramount Chairman and CEO David Ellison said in a statement. "We believe they will benefit from the enhanced competition, higher content spend and theatrical release output, and a greater number of movies in theaters as a result of our proposed transaction,''
On Friday Netflix struck a deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, the Hollywood giant behind ''Harry Potter'' and HBO Max. The cash and stock deal is valued at $27.75 per Warner share, giving it a total enterprise value of $82.7 billion, including debt. The transaction is expected to close in the next 12 to 18 months, after Warner completes its previously announced separation of its cable operations. Not included in the deal are networks such as CNN and Discovery.
