WBD board tells shareholders to reject Paramount Skydance's takeover offer, saying 'value is inadequate'

The Warner Bros. Discovery board on Wednesday said it unanimously recommended that WBD shareholders reject a takeover offer from Paramount Skydance and stick with a “superior” proposal from Netflix.

Last week, Paramount launched a hostile bid for WBD, taking a $30-per-share, all-cash offer directly to shareholders. Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison has argued the deal, which equates to an equity value of $108.4 billion, is better than Netflix’s and that a Paramount-WBD combination would have better chances of winning regulatory approval.

“Following a careful evaluation of Paramount’s recently launched tender offer, the Board concluded that the offer’s value is inadequate, with significant risks and costs imposed on our shareholders,” Samuel Di Piazza, chair of the Warner Bros. Discovery board, said in a news release. “This offer once again fails to address key concerns that we have consistently communicated to Paramount throughout our extensive engagement and review of their six previous proposals. We are confident that our merger with Netflix represents superior, more certain value for our shareholders and we look forward to delivering on the compelling benefits of our combination.”

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