Film Production
Warner Bros Discovery moves to snub Paramount Skydance bid
NEW YORK: According to a Reuters report, Warner Bros. Discovery is preparing to tell its shareholders to politely but firmly turn down a hostile takeover bid from Paramount Skydance, after concluding that the proposal brings more questions than answers.
People familiar with the matter say the company’s board, after a close review, believes the offer lacks both value and certainty when compared with Warner Bros. Discovery’s existing strategic agreement with Netflix. A formal recommendation to reject the tender offer could come as early as Wednesday, when the company is expected to file its response. Talks are continuing, and nothing has yet been officially announced.
At the heart of the board’s unease is how the deal would be paid for. Part of Paramount’s financing hinges on equity commitments tied to a revocable trust linked to the fortune of Oracle founder Larry Ellison, whose son David Ellison runs Paramount Skydance. Because the trust can be changed or withdrawn at any time, Warner Bros. Discovery directors have questioned how solid the funding really is, and what protection the company would have if that backing were to evaporate.
Those concerns sharpened this week after one of Paramount’s backers, Affinity Partners, walked away from the deal. The investment firm, led by Jared Kushner, cited the presence of “two strong competitors” as its reason for exiting.
Regulation is another sore point. Directors worry that a prolonged approval process could leave the company stuck in limbo for a year or more, limiting its ability to run the business freely or manage its balance sheet at a critical time.
Paramount has tried to calm nerves. In a recent regulatory filing, it said it had addressed issues around Warner Bros. Discovery’s ability to refinance debt and cover a proposed $5 billion break fee, which it said would be supported by the Ellison family. The bidder has also tweaked elements of its proposal in response to feedback.
Still, hurdles remain. Around $1 billion in financing from China’s Tencent Holdings was dropped from the deal amid concerns it could invite national security scrutiny from US regulators.
Paramount, home to brands such as MTV and the Paramount+ streaming service, has put forward a proposal valuing Warner Bros. Discovery at more than $108 billion including debt. After Warner Bros. unveiled its Netflix agreement, Paramount bypassed the board and went straight to shareholders with a public tender offer.
That Netflix deal restricts Warner Bros. Discovery from actively shopping itself to other suitors, though it can assess unsolicited approaches. If a clearly superior bid emerges, Netflix has the right to match it.
For now, the board appears unconvinced that Paramount’s offer makes the cut.
Film Production
Priyanka Kaur Dhillon joins SVF Entertainment as lead for music distribution
A seasoned content dealmaker with 16 years in digital and satellite media joins the Bengali entertainment powerhouse as it pushes into the pan-India music market
Mumbai: Priyanka Kaur Dhillon has made her move. The content acquisitions and commercials veteran, most recently commercial manager at Sony Pictures Networks India, has joined SVF Entertainment as lead for music distribution, stepping into one of the more interesting briefs in regional entertainment right now.
SVF is no ordinary regional label. Over 30 years it has built a formidable legacy in Bengali cinema and music, driven by culturally resonant storytelling and a catalogue that consistently punches above its weight. Its recent success with Chiraiya underlines the point. But the Kolkata-based powerhouse now has its sights firmly set beyond Bengal, most visibly through Legacy, a rap reality series produced in collaboration with hip-hop label Kalamkaar that signals a deliberate push into the pan-India music ecosystem.
Dhillon brings precisely the kind of muscle SVF needs for that expansion. At Sony Pictures Networks India, she led film acquisition and commercials and handled music licensing across the entire satellite network. Before that, she spent nearly 15 years at Hungama, rising to assistant general manager and leading strategic content licensing for the platform’s digital entertainment business, with a particular focus on international markets. Her label relationships span the full roster: Sony Music, Universal Music, Warner Music, Believe International, Tunecore, The Orchard and a clutch of smaller aggregators. She has negotiated and closed deals with Hollywood studios, Bollywood production houses and regional content players alike, building pricing models and deal structures off data analysis rather than instinct.
Announcing the appointment, Dhillon said she was “thrilled to begin this journey with an iconic Bengali music label and content powerhouse,” adding that SVF’s “constant drive to push boundaries” was what drew her to the role.
SVF has spent three decades proving that regional does not mean limited. With a sharp commercial operator now steering its music distribution, its bid to go national just got a good deal more serious.
