David Ellison’s Paramount has sued Warner Bros. Discovery — the smaller firm’s latest move to block Warner’s sale to Netflix.
The lawsuit, filed Monday morning in Delaware court, asks Warner and its chief executive David Zaslav to produce more information about the events leading up to the Warner auction that culminated Dec. 4. Last week, Warner’s board unanimously rejected Paramount’s $30-a-share proposal that included a personal guarantee by Ellison’s father, the tech billionaire Larry Ellison.
The move came the morning after the Golden Globes ceremony in Beverly Hills, in which Zaslav’s warm relations with Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co-chief executive, were on display. Both Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix had a strong night at the award show, which was televised by Paramount’s CBS network.
In a Monday letter to shareholders, David Ellison wrote that Warner has “provided increasingly novel reasons for avoiding a transaction with Paramount.”
“Paramount started this process about four months ago with a private offer at a significant premium to WBD’s $12.54 share price, and our pursuit culminated in the $30 per share all-cash, fully financed proposal we made before WBD entered into the Netflix transaction,” Ellison wrote.
“We are committed to seeing our tender offer through,” Ellison said. “We understand, however, that unless the WBD board of directors decides to exercise its right to engage with us under the Netflix merger agreement … this will likely come down to your vote at a shareholder meeting.”
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