Warner Bros. Discovery Rejects $20 Per Share Takeover Bid from Paramount Skydance
In recent weeks, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) has turned down a takeover offer of approximately $20 per share from David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance, deeming it “too low,” according to a report from Bloomberg News. This news comes as WBD shares closed at $17.10 on Friday, marking a surge of over 36% since the announcement of Ellison’s interest in acquiring the company on September 11. This interest follows Skydance’s recent $8 billion acquisition of Paramount Global.
As the parent company of major brands like HBO/HBO Max, Warner Bros. Entertainment, CNN, TNT, and TBS, Warner Bros. Discovery boasts a robust market capitalization of $42.3 billion. However, it remains unclear whether Paramount’s bid would involve taking on WBD’s substantial debt, which stood at $35.6 billion as of June 30.
Bloomberg also reported that Paramount Skydance has been in discussions with Apollo Global Management, an asset management firm that previously submitted a bid for Paramount Global, about potentially joining forces to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery.
David Ellison, the CEO of Paramount Skydance and son of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, has emphasized the need for Paramount to expand its content production capabilities in order to foster sustainable growth in today’s streaming-dominated landscape. Speaking at the Bloomberg Screentime conference in Los Angeles last week, Ellison noted WBD chief David Zaslav’s comments regarding the industry’s need for further consolidation. He stated, “I do think there are a lot of M&A options out there that might be actionable in the near future. You actually need more content to yield more engagement. We want to produce more movies and television series to achieve greater scale and audience interaction.”
While Ellison did not specifically confirm the bid for WBD, he did underscore the importance of increasing content production. The proposal from Paramount Skydance is reported to be an offer for the entirety of Warner Bros. Discovery, as initially noted by the Wall Street Journal.
This merger and acquisition interest comes ahead of WBD’s plans to restructure into two separate entities next spring: Warner Bros., which will encompass studios and streaming services, and Discovery Global, which will include TV networks and Discovery+.
Stay tuned for more updates on this developing story!
