Hollywood
Paramount Pictures goes in for a leaner structure
MUMBAI: A part of the Viacom conglomerate, Paramount Pictures has decided to trim down its staff by 110 people. Just a memo was issued to people who have been sent back home.
The reductions will be in the Finace, HR, IT, International home media distribution, legal and marketing departments. In a letter to its sacked employees the company CEO Frederick Huntsberry said that the layoffs were needed to manage business ‘with greater speed and flexibility as well as capitalise on opportunities in the global entertainment market’.
The company has plans to re-enter into TV. Their performances on the big screen have just been average.
Positions have been shed in their head office in LA as well as many international offices. Previously in 2011, the company laid off 120 people.
Hollywood
Warner Bros rejects Paramount’s latest bid, gives seven-day deadline for revised offer
Studio seeks bid above $31 a share while backing Netflix merger
NEW YORK: Warner Bros Discovery has rejected Paramount Skydance’s latest hostile bid of $30 a share but granted the suitor seven days to submit a “best and final” offer, even as it reiterated its support for a merger with Netflix.
In a letter sent on Tuesday, Warner Bros said Paramount had informally floated a higher price of $31 a share, but the board did not consider the proposal reasonably likely to result in a superior transaction to its existing Netflix deal.
Paramount has until February 23 to improve its offer. Under the merger agreement, Netflix is entitled to match any competing bid, Warner Bros said.
“Our board has not determined that your proposal is reasonably likely to be superior to the Netflix merger,” chairman Samuel DiPiazza Jr and chief executive David Zaslav wrote to the Paramount board. “We remain fully committed to our transaction with Netflix.”
Paramount’s offer values Warner Bros at $108.4 billion, while Netflix has agreed to pay $27.75 a share, valuing Warner Bros’ studio and streaming assets at $82.7 billion. Warner Bros plans to spin off its Discovery Global cable networks: including CNN, TLC, Food Network and HGTV, into a separate listed company ahead of the merger vote scheduled for 20 March.
Warner Bros said it expects any acceptable Paramount bid to exceed $31 a share, noting that a Paramount adviser had suggested higher pricing was possible if talks reopened.
Shares of Paramount rose 6 per cent, while Warner Bros Discovery gained 2.3 per cent. Netflix shares fell 1.4 per cent.
The move marks a shift after months of resistance. Paramount has said Warner Bros previously failed to engage meaningfully on six approaches before announcing its Netflix deal in December. A revised Paramount proposal in January, backed by a $40 billion personal equity guarantee from Larry Ellison, father of Paramount chief executive David Ellison, was also rejected.
Warner Bros now faces growing pressure from activist investor Ancora Holdings, who opposes the Netflix transaction. Paramount has separately sought board representation, with Pentwater Capital backing its bid.
The deal is expected to face regulatory scrutiny over competition concerns, with Paramount and Netflix engaging with authorities including the US Department of Justice.
