Paramount Skydance has filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) for more information on the rival US$82.7 billion deal with Netflix.
This came after WBD formally rejected Paramount’s US$30 per share cash bid for the media conglomerate, which the company said was superior to the US$27.75 per share cash and stock offer WBD accepted from Netflix.
Paramount and Netflix have been in a heated battle for WBD for months, with WBD accepting Netflix’s deal to acquire big titles like ‘Harry Potter’ and the HBO Max streaming platform.
In a letter to shareholders, Paramount also said it would propose an amendment to Warner Bros' bylaws that would require shareholder approval for any separation of the media giant's cable TV business, which is key to the Netflix deal.
Paramount’s offer, which would see it purchase WBD in its entirety, was once again rejected last week.
In a letter to shareholders, Paramount chairman and CEO David Ellison said the company was committed to seeing its tender through and seeking more information on why it was rejected.
“WBD has provided increasingly novel reasons for avoiding a transaction with Paramount, but what it has never said, because it cannot, is that the Netflix transaction is financially superior to our actual offer,” Ellison said.
“Our $30 per share in cash is simply more than Netflix's complex multi-variable consideration.”
Netflix and WBD are yet to comment on the matter.
At the time of writing WBD (NASDAQ: WBD) stocks had fallen 1.68% to US$28.40, Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) was down 0.06% to US$89.41 and Paramount (NASDAQ: PSKY) had risen 0.75% to US$12.15.
