English Entertainment
Warner Bros likely to reject Paramount offer: Reuters report
NEW YORK, LOS ANGELES: The new year may not bring great news for Paramount Skydance, if a Reuters report is to be believed. The news agency, quoting an unnamed internal source, said that Warner Bros Discovery is likely to reject the David Ellison-headed media juggernaut’s amended $108.4 billion hostile bid for the Hollywood studio despite a personal guarantee from his billionaire father, Larry Ellison.
Reuters further reported that no decision has been taken by the Warner Bros Discovery board as yet, but it is expected to meet next week to discuss the way forward. Both the companies refused to officially come on record on reports that the board had already taken a decision. It may be recalled that the Warner Bros Discovery board had urged its shareholders to reject the Paramount bid.
Paramount had then taken steps to sweeten its $30 per share all-cash-offer for the whole company by raising its regulatory reverse termination fee to $5.8 billion matching Netflix’s proposal as well as extending its tender offer deadline.
The global streamer has proposed to pay $82.7 billion in a cash-cum-stock deal to acquire the Warner Bros studio, streaming services and content library in a definitive agreement signed between the two. A penalty of $2.8 billion would have to be paid by the latter if it breaks the agreement.
English Entertainment
Ellison takes his Paramount-Warner Bros case straight to theater owners
The Skydance chief goes to CinemaCon with promises and a skeptical crowd waiting
CALIFORNIA: David Ellison strode into a room packed with thousands of cinema owners and executives at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday and did something rather bold: he looked them in the eye and asked them to trust him.
The chief executive of Paramount Skydance vowed that his company would release a minimum of 30 films a year if regulators greenlight its proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, a deal that has made theater owners deeply, and loudly, nervous.
“I wanted to look every single one of you in the eye and give you my word,” Ellison told the crowd. “Once we combine with Warner Bros, we are going to make a minimum of 30 films annually across both studios.”
It was a confident pitch. Whether it landed is another matter. Cinema operators have already called on regulators to block the deal, and scepticism in the room was hardly concealed.
Ellison pushed back by pointing to recent form. Paramount, born from the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media last August, plans to release 15 films this year, nearly double the eight it put out in 2025. Progress, he argued, was already underway.
He also threw theater owners a bone they have long been chasing: all films, he pledged, would run exclusively in cinemas for a minimum of 45 days, drawing applause from a crowd that has spent years fighting for exactly that commitment across the industry.
“People can speculate all they want,” Ellison said, “but I am standing here today telling you personally that you can count on our complete commitment. And we’ll show you we mean it.”
Fine words. The regulators, however, will have the last one.
