WBD Reopens Paramount Talks, Sets Vote Date

Warner Bros. Discovery has officially set a March 20th date for the shareholder vote regarding its sale to Netflix.

In addition, the company says that it will re-engage with David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance to see if it can resolve the outstanding issues it had with that company’s bid.

Warner Bros. Discovery says Netflix has granted it a seven-day waiver to talk with Paramount to try and resolve the issues, and get a ‘best and final’ offer from that company.

It is not clear if Paramount will take the company up on that offer to re-engage officially, or continue to pursue its hostile takeover bid to convince shareholders to vote down the Netflix deal.

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav says in a statement: “We are engaging with PSKY now to determine whether they can deliver an actionable, binding proposal that provides superior value and certainty for WBD shareholders through their best and final offer.”

Netflix also issued a statement today berating Paramount Skydance’s ‘antics’, saying “WBD stockholders should not be misled into thinking that PSKY has an easier or faster path to regulatory approval – it does not”.

Under its current agreement, Netflix has the right to match any offer from Paramount Skydance. At present, the board is still “unanimously recommending” the Netflix deal.

Source: THR