New sports streaming - Venu (Fox/Disney/WarnerBros)

[Unchained]

An excellent piece of tabloid word play - https://nypost.com/2025/12/13/busin...ors-in-hostile-bid-for-warner-bros-discovery/

The Ellisons (Paramount) have maybe not the wealth that's claimed (needing help from the Gulf & Kushner) and Netflix's Sarandos has been wooing WBD but this is bound to end up in court one way or another. Stay tuned for next week's episode!

Trophy shops all over are frantically making FIFA looking awards trophies for closing the deal.. Who will give the biggest peace prize trophy..or Best Businessman in the history of the World, ever award.. Whoever gets that presented publicly will get control of the company

 

[Rob5091]

Monday 22 December is DDay for WBD's "suitors" - and there could be some very happy advisors to the winner i.e. big pay day!
https://www.ft.com/content/b55ac7b8-6004-40f6-80ec-ad877e0ac84f

WBD shareholders expect that Paramount’s hostile approach could mean the price tag of the biggest deal of the year is bumped yet further, potentially delivering hundreds of millions of dollars in fees for the banks involved. Bankers are now bracing themselves for a frenzied final stretch of the year, before a December 22 deadline for Warner to opine on which deal it favours. Years of relationship building could hand some advisers a hefty payday and leave others with nothing.

It's being rated as the biggest thing since sliced bread,

“I’ve missed Christmas Eve and New Year’s and the Fourth of July holidays for deals a lot smaller than this,” said Dwayne Safer, who worked for 10 years in investment banking at Stifel and is now an associate professor of finance at Messiah University. The auction process already claimed one holiday, with negotiations coming to a head on Thanksgiving weekend in late November. “When the NBA players play on Christmas Day, nobody says our holidays are ruined. They say isn’t it great you’re in the NBA,” said an adviser involved in the deal. “This is as good as it gets for investment bankers.”

 

[Rob5091]

How must it feel to have billions of dollars and still not be able to buy what you want ...
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/dec/22/larry-ellison-40-billion-paramount-warner-bros

WBD urged shareholders to reject a $108.4bn hostile takeover bid from Paramount – which is controlled by the Ellisons – last week, having agreed to sell its storied movie studios, HBO cable network and streaming service to Netflix in a $82.7bn deal earlier this month.

WBD also accused Paramount of having “consistently misled” investors by claiming its offer had a “full backstop” – a safety net to ensure it has sufficient funds – from the Ellisons.

In a bid to address these concerns, Paramount said on Monday morning that Larry Ellison, the co-founder of tech giant Oracle, had agreed to personally backstop $40.4bn in equity financing for the proposed deal.

 

[Rob5091]

Some people can n't take no for an answer. Paramount take the measure of last resort, call up the lawyers.
https://www.reuters.com/business/me...rner-bros-discovery-files-lawsuit-2026-01-12/

Paramount Skydance (PSKY.O) on Monday sued Warner Bros Discovery (WBD.O) for more information on a rival $82.7 billion deal with Netflix (NFLX.O), escalating a battle to take control of one of the ‌most storied Hollywood studios.
The David Ellison-led company also said it planned to nominate directors to Warner Bros' board, in one of its most aggressive steps to convince investors that its $108.7 billion all-cash bid is superior to Netflix's cash-and-stock deal.

"I don’t think ‍the lawsuit matters much. It would take ages to get through the court system if they full-on go that route," Craig Huber, analyst at Huber Research Partners, said. "If they ‌want Warner ‌Bros bad enough, raise the bid. Money talks."

 

[Rob5091]

The lawyers had their day in ccourt and that's all it's going to be.
https://www.latimes.com/entertainme...-request-to-expedite-case-against-warner-bros

Paramount suffered a blow in a Delaware courtroom Thursday as a judge refused to expedite its lawsuit against Warner Bros. Discovery seeking information about internal deliberations and a financial analysis.

Reuters reported that Vice Chancellor Morgan T. Zurn of the Delaware Chancery Court said during a hearing that Paramount had failed to show it would suffer “cognizable irreparable harm” without the financial details it sought.

Now the pressure is on Paramount to win over Warner shareholders before next week’s tender offer deadline. Investors have until Wednesday to sell their stock to Paramount for $30 a share. Paramount could extend that deadline.

As I wrote before, this might turn out to be a good battle to lose -

Netflix, which has seen its stock slide about 17% since early December, is reportedly weighing whether to bolster its bid by offering all cash for Warner Bros. movie and television studio, HBO and HBO Max. Netflix declined to comment.