Paramount Sues to Reveal Details of Warner Bros.' Deal with Netflix

Новости 1 Источник: Netflix / Warner Bros.

13 Jan 14:46

The corporate war for Warner Bros. is escalating.

The conflict between Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery has entered an open phase. Paramount's head, David Ellison, informed shareholders that the company has filed a lawsuit in Delaware state court, demanding the disclosure of the financial terms of WBD's deal with Netflix.

According to Paramount, Warner Bros. violated the principles of corporate transparency by not explaining why the $83 billion agreement with Netflix was deemed preferable.

The company insists that their own offer - $30 per share, all cash with a guarantee from Larry Ellison (founder of Orcale) - was more favorable, but the WBD board of directors rejected it.

Now, Paramount is seeking through the court to disclose the calculations for the valuation of assets, debts of Global Networks, and the so-called "risk adjustment" that influenced the decision.

In parallel, Paramount is preparing to fight for influence on the WBD board of directors: the company intends to nominate its own candidates and seek changes to the charter that would require major transactions and asset divisions to be put to a shareholder vote.

If Warner Bros. attempts to expedite the approval of the deal with Netflix through an extraordinary meeting, Paramount is ready to launch a campaign to collect proxies and campaign against the deal.

Adding a particular piquancy to the conflict is politics. The day before, Donald Trump reposted a One America News article criticizing the WBD and Netflix deal - the media interpreted this as a public gesture of support for Paramount's position.

The article argued that no corporation should dominate the national cultural space through brute market force and ideological activism. As an example, the author of the article mentions that Netflix has repeatedly used its global platform to promote a progressive "agenda," displacing alternative viewpoints.