TAKEOVER BY FORCE

Paramount Sues Warner Bros. in Desperate Power Grab

CEO David Ellison penned a letter to Warner Bros. shareholders warning of a lawsuit.

Paramount is not giving up on its hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery. After Netflix secured the winning bid in December, Paramount CEO David Ellison and his father, Larry Ellison, moved forward with a hostile, all-cash bid to outbid Netflix, even after its agreement with Warner Bros. Discovery had been finalized. Yet Warner Bros. executives have rejected Paramount’s deal multiple times, stating that “the terms of the Netflix merger are superior,” despite the streaming service giant’s bid being lower—at $72 billion—than the $77.9 billion, or $30 a share, proposed by the Ellisons. On Monday, in the latest move in the takeover battle, David Ellison wrote a letter to Warner Bros. shareholders stating that a lawsuit had been filed in the Delaware Chancery Court seeking to direct Warner Bros. to “provide information” to shareholders that the company believes it has “failed to disclose,” so that shareholders “have what they need to be able to make an informed decision as to whether to tender their shares” into Paramount’s offer. The lawsuit comes a week after the Warner Bros. board said that Paramount’s “aggressive transaction structure poses materially more risk for WBD and its shareholders” than Netflix’s deal. The Daily Beast has reached out to Warner Bros. for comment.