Paramount increases its Warner Bros. Discovery bid by $1 per share
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If we had anything resembling reasonable antitrust enforcement, neither of these mergers would happen. But if it's going to happen anyway, which it will, it's better by far for it to be Netflix than even more media consolidation under Larry Ellison.
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We should be terrified that they’re actually considering Paramount’s bid. Ellison will turn CNN over to Bari Weiss and that’ll be the end of CNN as we know it. Who knows what will become of HBO, but likely something ominous, sinister, and bad for democracy—but, good for Trump—, like anything the Ellisons’ touch.
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I'm sure this has everything to do with the increased offer, and not because the orange man has criticised Netflix for being woke.
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It's largely how Russia and Hungary operate, after all. The state doesn't run anything. Friends of the state run everything. At least money isn't the prime (and only) directive in America, right?
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WBD has already been passed around like an STD between corporations, but at least there's a shot or pill they can still take in the form of Netflix. Shacking up with Paramount is game over, there's no cure for those corporate herpes. Besides Paramount is just going to strip down and part out WBD (which N may do as well) leaving billions in debt to be written off, file for chapter 11, but most likely will be resold to some other sucker.
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I can’t condone the politics or privileges of Riefenstahl, but she made way better movies than Melania & Brett Ratner.
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The best reason ever to wait out copyright ... they can keep their catalog. If it is this important to sway us, I don't want to see it
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It's starting to feel like we're in the third season of a played-out will-they-or-won't-they romcom.
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Grrr. I’ve already walked away from CBS/Paramount. If this keeps up I’m gonna end up with very little on the tube I can stomach.
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I predict there’s gonna be a lot of Yosemite-like strong white men taming The West/Asian Bad Guys/Hispanic Bad Guys/Uppity Women/Outer Space.
Oh, and of course the USA will always reign supreme.
U…S…A. U…S…A. U…S…A.
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I don't know, it seems like Paramount is going to get it eventually, let them figure out how not to drown in all the combined debt. Maybe Netflix or Apple can pick up HBO on the cheap in a few years.
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Well, if the Ellison boy wins I suppose I’ll be saving the HBO subscription fees each month. If it weren’t for John Oliver and Euphoria I might have already canceled.
I can’t imagine John Oliver will be kept around if the Ellison boy wins.
Maybe he and Colbert can start a new channel together.
I can’t imagine John Oliver will be kept around if the Ellison boy wins.
Maybe he and Colbert can start a new channel together.
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So Company Superior Proposal means in the short term, it makes more profit but doesn't care if the company will likely be destroyed afterward?
Erie.
Erie.
"The OC" has a nice sound.
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Ugh. I hope Netflix counters this. In a better world, this merger wouldn't be happening at all, but I'd rather Netflix buy Warner than let Ellison and Trump's cronies get their hands on it.
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What the fuck? Are there missing details here, like a cap on the amount of this delay fee?
There must be, right? Because, based solely on the information in this article, it looks like Paramount will owe WBD an unlimited amount of money that gets extremely high extremely quickly.
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After reading several articles about this I’ve come to a different conclusion about Netflix and Warner Brothers. Netflix’s Ted Sarandos has testified before the Senate subcommittee on Antitrust saying that Netflix would commit to a 45-day theatrical window with its purchase of Warner Bros.
In another interview Sarandos said that a 45-day theatrical window would be followed by a PVOD (transactional) window, before landing on Max/Netflix.
In response to James Cameron, Sarandos said, Warner Brothers movies would go into the theaters for 45 days, and there would be a healthy, robust, ongoing slate of WB films every year.
— By contrast Sarandos has pointed out that a Paramount purchase of Warner Brothers would reduce the movie industry because the Paramount bid was a “leveraged buyout” involving large debt that would lead to billions in cuts. Paramount has acknowledged at least $6 billion in savings would need to be made if Paramount buys WB involving job loses and reduced production.
** Bottom line; if Sarandos keeps his promises, Netflix can maintain the WB movie business at its current rate.
By contrast Paramount would have to reduce costs if it owns WB with job cuts which indicates that WB would produce fewer films.
** Considering all this added information and accepting the reality that WB will be sold, my previous objections to Netflix owning WB are gone.
— However, I cannot support Paramount buying WB due to their agenda in reducing free speech in the US as well as their damage to the film industry because of their massive debt.
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At this point, I'm feeling rather glad that I've been a bit of a packrat on the blu-ray and DVD front. I have a rather large backlog in my "to watch" pile - enough that I can walk away from anything new from most of the major studios without feeling much regret.
But I'll admit to looking forward to the next seasons of Severance and Pluribus, which - given Cook's behaviour towards Trump lately - does trouble me a little bit. Not as badly as anything from Paramount would, but still.
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WIth their new hit show:
Funny, But Unfortunately True Things
or FunBUTT for brevity.
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Revitalized it?!
Enterprise was finally hitting its stride when CBS killed it. The reboot was the dagger that killed it. Even Picard was a pale, nostalgia-filled reflection of the glory days, but nothing has been worth watching since the Enterprise days.
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They have a fiduciary responsibility to recommend to the shareholders their best offer. Otherwise they can be sued individually. Netflix might raise their price in response, or take their original offer directly to the shareholders in a proxy battle as was Paramount's plan when WBD rejected $30.
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Larry Ellison will not be defeated, by his stupid kid, or the stupid president.
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You often hear the right touting the free marketplace of ideas. But the reality is some ideas are antithetical to corporate interests. (John Oliver is a perfect example) And as corporations control much of the marketplace, it's not hard to see how this 'marketplace' ends up by the roadside.
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David Ellison's most notable experience was his daddy sponsoring his $65M flop of a movie "Flyboys" which was ridiculed in large (ahem, sound like Meliana anyone?), so what makes him suitable for ownership other than his daddy pulling his strings as needed for a return on investment, and subsequently Trump?
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Yeah I imagine the mood is going to shift once Paramount’s Q4 earnings report drops tomorrow. Ellison was likely trying to avoid this from happening, but now the fallout from (what is shaping up to be) a disastrous report is now going to play a factor in what happens next.
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Instructables can be Confusable
Wise, Aged Ars Veteran
Maybe they can join Dropout?
I'm not currently a subscriber as I'm not into D&D, but what I have seen of their other shows has been generally quite funny.
I know either on their own is too big a name to even think it would happen. Should it do so, I would subscribe.
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I suspect he has more information about approval timelines with this administration than some other people.
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