Paramount to clash with Warner Bros Discovery to block Netflix

The match over Warner Bros Discovery, which has bride to Netflix (for the streaming part and studios let a company with TV networks survive), ends up in court, opposing the advances of Paramount Skydance. However, the latter decided to take Warner Bros Discovery to the Delaware Chancery Court, demanding that the financial details of the $82.7-83 billion deal with Netflix be revealed.

The move comes after the umpteenth no from the board led by David Zaslav to Paramount's hostile bid: $30 in cash per share on the entire group ($108 billion total), including studios, streaming and cable networks. "Wbd did not provide any information on how it valued Global Networks' equity, how it valued the entire Netflix transaction, how the purchase price reduction for debt works," David Ellison, chairman and ceo of Paramount, attacked in an open letter to investors.

Hence the appeal. And not only that. In fact, Paramount has announced that it will present its own list of directors and propose an amendment to the articles of association to require a shareholder vote on 'any separation of Global Networks', the cable network spin-off planned for 2026. Not least because Paramount insists on a full takeover and claims that the future Discovery Global 'has no value'.

The retort from Warner Bros. Discovery is clear: Paramount is "trying to distract attention with an unfounded lawsuit and attacks on a board that has generated unprecedented shareholder value". It is certain that the level is being raised in a game in which not only the financial side will be decisive, but also the regulatory side. And the topic has, moreover, immediately entered the political debate given the proximity of the Ellison family to US President Donald Trump.

The tenant of the White House has not, however, kept himself out of the querelle since, already in the heat of the moment, he has expressed concerns about the possible merger between Netflix and Hbo Max (Warner Bros Discovery's streaming service, which, moreover, will start up today in Italy) and, more generally, about the cultural weight of the streaming group. On Sunday, he then relaunched on social media a critical editorial published by One America News Network, which attacked the Warner-Netflix alliance.