David Ellison’s Paramount has sued Warner Bros. Discovery — the smaller agency’s newest transfer to dam Warner’s sale to Netflix.
The lawsuit, filed Monday morning in Delaware courtroom, asks Warner and its chief govt David Zaslav to provide extra details about the occasions main as much as the Warner public sale that culminated Dec. 4. Final week, Warner’s board unanimously rejected Paramount’s $30-a-share proposal that included a private assure by Ellison’s father, the tech billionaire Larry Ellison.
The transfer got here the morning after the Golden Globes ceremony in Beverly Hills, during which Zaslav’s heat relations with Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co-chief govt, had been on show. Each Warner Bros. Discovery and Netflix had a powerful evening on the award present, which was televised by Paramount’s CBS community.
In a Monday letter to shareholders, David Ellison wrote that Warner has “offered more and more novel causes for avoiding a transaction with Paramount.”
“Paramount began this course of about 4 months in the past with a non-public provide at a big premium to WBD’s $12.54 share value, and our pursuit culminated within the $30 per share all-cash, absolutely financed proposal we made earlier than WBD entered into the Netflix transaction,” Ellison wrote.
“We’re dedicated to seeing our tender provide via,” Ellison stated. “We perceive, nonetheless, that except the WBD board of administrators decides to train its proper to have interaction with us below the Netflix merger settlement … it will doubtless come all the way down to your vote at a shareholder assembly.”
