Paramount escalates hostile takeover bid of Warner Bros. with new board slate

Paramount Skydance is taking another step in its hostile takeover bid of Warner Bros. Discovery, saying Monday that it will name its own slate of directors before the next shareholder meeting of the Hollywood studio.

Paramount also filed a suit in Delaware Chancery Court seeking to compel Warner Bros. to disclose to shareholders how it values its bid and the competing offer from Netflix.

Warner Bros. is in the middle of a bidding war between Paramount and Netflix. Warner’s leadership has repeatedly rebuffed overtures from Skydance-owned Paramount — and urged shareholders to back the sale of its streaming and studio business to Netflix for $72 billion. Paramount, meanwhile, has made efforts to sweeten its $77.9 billion hostile offer for the entire company.

Last week, Warner Bros. Discovery said its board determined Paramount’s offer is not in the best interests of the company or its shareholders. It again recommended shareholders support the Netflix deal.

David Ellison, the chairman and CEO of Paramount Skydance, said Monday that it’s committed to seeing through its tender offer. “We do not undertake any of these actions lightly,” he said in a letter to shareholders of Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. has yet to schedule its annual meeting or a special meeting to consider the Netflix offer, and Paramount did not name any potential candidates for the board.

—Associated Press

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