The Ellisons have won their bid, as expected:
Netflix on Thursday said it would not submit a higher offer for Warner Bros. Discovery after the company’s board described Paramount Skydance’s latest offer as “superior.” …
Paramount’s bid was for the entire company while Netflix was seeking to acquire only its streaming service, HBO cable channel and film studio business.
“The transaction we negotiated would have created shareholder value with a clear path to regulatory approval,” Netflix said in a statement on Thursday afternoon. “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.” [NBC News]
If you want a very brief history of Warner Bros, here’s Wikipedia.
Interestingly …
Netflix shares soared as much as 15% in after-hours trading on the news, signaling relief from shareholders who have seen the stock decline by more than 20% since the WBD-Netflix bid was officially announced in December.
Was the worry concerning a bidding war that might hollow out Netflix, or just the wisdom of acquiring a legacy library?
Well, here’s hoping for leaks from the government, probably the DoJ, concerning how much Trump and the gang meddled to ensure buddy Ellison & Son won the day. It sure doesn’t hurt that the family fortune is bloody immense, of course, so maybe they didn’t call in Trump to force the deal their way.
But it does seem likely. How much are they paying? See the link.
