Paramount-Skydance (US:PSKY), the media company bankrolled by Oracle (US:ORCL) founder Larry Ellison, has won the battle for Warner Bros. Discovery (US:WBD) with an increased bid that Netflix (US:NFLX) has refused to match.
The $111bn (£82bn) enterprise value buyout offer dwarfs the $12bn market value of Paramount and will require huge amounts of debt and new equity.
The deal puts CNN, HBO and popular movie series such as Harry Potter in the hands of Paramount, which has its own streaming service and the CBS news station already. Ellison’s son David took control of the smaller studio last year through his production company Skydance.
The politics of the deal are hard to ignore. US President Donald Trump has recently been critical of Netflix, calling for the removal of Obama administration adviser Susan Rice from its board. Ellison has also shifted CBS News to the right following his Paramount acquisition. CNN has long been a thorn in the side of Trump, who has frequently attacked its journalists.
The new offer from Paramount of $31 per share will be funded through a $45.7bn equity issue guaranteed by Larry Ellison and $57.5bn in new debt. Paramount will also pay Netflix’s $2.8bn break fee.
“At the price required to match Paramount Skydance’s latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive,” said Netflix. The streaming giant’s shares climbed 7 per cent in response to the news, after hitting a 12-month low of $78 earlier in the week.




