Paramount is raising the stakes in its takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, announcing that Larry Ellison will provide a personal guarantee for the tens of billions of dollars needed to finance the deal. At the same time, the Ellison family will open the financials of their family trust to shareholders.
Warner Bros. Discovery‘s board has repeatedly rejected Paramount’s proposal, favoring instead the Netflix deal, which it considers more advantageous. The board has also accused Paramount of providing misleading information to WBD shareholders and expressed doubts about whether the funding for the proposal is sufficiently secured.
According to CNN, Paramount responded by announcing that Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle and father of Paramount CEO David Ellison, personally guarantees the entire $40.4 billion committed to fund the deal—a particularly large guarantee representing a significant portion of his personal fortune.
Ellison also pledged not to revoke the family trust, which could otherwise create obstacles to funding. Meanwhile, Paramount released data confirming that the trust owns 1.16 billion shares of Oracle stock, addressing concerns raised by the WBD board.
Finally, Paramount has increased its liquidated damages clause in the event the deal fails to $5.8 billion, up from $5 billion previously, aligning it with the clause in Warner Bros. Discovery’s agreement with Netflix.
Ask me anything
Explore related questions