In the months-long takeover battle for Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount Skydance – owned by David Ellison, son of Oracle CTO and executive chair Larry Ellison – has emerged victorious, after Netflix on Thursday decided not to raise its bid further.
The merger is set the change the streaming media landscape and also marks a second major deal for David Ellison following the merger of Paramount and Skydance that was passed by regulators last month.
Netflix has revealed but that the price that would be required to match Paramount Skydance’s latest bid is no longer attractive. Therefore, the company is pulling out of the fight for the iconic studio.
The board of directors of Warner Bros. Discovery must now officially terminate the existing agreement with Netflix and approve Paramount Skydance’s bid.
An official statement from Netflix read: “The transaction we negotiated would have created shareholder value with a clear path to regulatory approval. However, we’ve always been disciplined, and at the price required to match Paramount Skydance’s latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive, so we are declining to match the Paramount Skydance bid.
“Warner Bros. is a world-class organization, and we want to thank David Zaslav, Gunnar Wiedenfels, Bruce Campbell, Brad Singer and the WBD Board for running a fair and rigorous process. We believe we would have been strong stewards of Warner Bros.’ iconic brands, and that our deal would have strengthened the entertainment industry and preserved and created more production jobs in the US But this transaction was always a ‘nice to have’ at the right price, not a ‘must have’ at any price.”
In a statement, Warner CEO David Zaslav said he is excited about the value that a combination of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery can bring to shareholders and that the company is ready to embark on new projects together.
A takeover by Paramount Skydance would bring two major Hollywood studios, two streaming services and several media companies – including CNN and CBS – under one roof, but the deal has yet to be tested against competition rules and regulatory approval.
The Ellisons also have an interest in TikTok, which Oracle holds a 15% equity stake after a deal agreed in January.
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