The board of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) on Wednesday officially recommended that shareholders reject a hostile takeover bid from Paramount Skydance.
Instead, the company is moving forward with a massive $72 billion deal to sell its studio and streaming business to Netflix.
WBD Chairman Samuel Di Piazza described the Paramount offer as “inferior,” emphasizing that the Netflix agreement provides a clearer path to completion and better financial protection for stockholders.
Okay News reports that Paramount had attempted to sweeten its bid by securing the financial backing of Oracle co-founder and billionaire Larry Ellison.
Despite this, the WBD board remains concerned about the deficiencies in Paramount’s proposal, which they claim have not been addressed in subsequent revisions. Paramount’s hostile offer of $30 per share in cash for the entire company—including its pay-TV networks—continues to face resistance from WBD leadership.
The decision has sparked debate among major investors, with some accusing the board of breaching their fiduciary duties by not engaging more deeply with Paramount. Pentwater Capital Management, a top WBD shareholder, argued that the Paramount bid is economically superior and carries less regulatory risk than the Netflix merger.
As the legal and financial battle intensifies, Netflix has already begun discussions with antitrust regulators in the U.S. and Europe to clear the way for the acquisition.
