Overview
- Paramount Skydance filed SEC materials outlining $6 billion in savings, including job cuts and about a 10% reduction in program spending outside studio operations.
- The all-cash $30-per-share tender was extended to Feb. 20 as Paramount urges investors to vote against the Netflix transaction at an expected April shareholder meeting.
- Warner Bros. Discovery reaffirmed support for Netflix’s now all-cash acquisition of the studios and HBO, saying more than 93% of shareholders have rejected Paramount’s offer so far.
- Paramount’s financing plan relies on a $40.4 billion Ellison backstop and roughly $24 billion from Gulf investors, a structure WBD warns could leave the company carrying more than $60 billion of debt in addition to existing obligations.
- The Department of Justice is leading the antitrust review of both proposals, and Netflix’s Ted Sarandos and WBD’s Bruce Campbell are slated to testify at the Feb. 3 Senate hearing.