Paramount Skydance launches rival bid for Warner Brothers Discovery

Paramount Skydance has made another offer to buy Warner Brothers Discovery as it seeks to trump a rival offer 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 entire company, including its traditional television networks.

It said its proposal was a “superior alternative” to the one from Netflix, 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.

Speaking on CNBC, Paramount chief executive David Ellison said Netflix’s takeover of Warner Brothers Discovery would be “anti-competitive”, arguing it would give the company too much power over actors and other players in the industry.

“It’s a horrible deal for Hollywood,” he said. He also said he had had “great conversations” with Trump about the deal and believed the president cared about competition.

Netflix’s proposal values Warner Brothers’ studio and streaming networks, including HBO, at about $83bn, including its debt, compared with Paramount’s offer, which values the entire company at $108.4bn.

Boards of both Netflix and Warner Brothers said on Friday that they supported the Netflix purchase, which they said would proceed after a planned spin-off of other parts of Warner Brothers’ business into an independent company.

But Mr Ellison, who had hoped to bolster Paramount’s own traditional television networks with those owned by Warner Brothers, said he thought an independent spin-off of those networks 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.