David Ellison is taking his case directly to the WBD shareholders — David Zaslav doesn’t seem to be listening any longer.
On Wednesday, Ellison sent a lengthy letter to Warner Bros. Discovery stockholders stating the case for why his Paramount Skydance would be the best buyer, not Netflix. His call to action was for WBD investors to “tender their shares today” — basically, Ellison wants them to write a letter of transmittal stating their shares up for sale to Paramount.
Ellison’s current offer for Warner Bros. Discovery — his seventh — is $30 per share, straight cash. He believes that to be a “superior value” to Netflix’s accepted offer of $23.25 per share in cash, $4.50 in stock and one share in WBD’s Global Networks spin-off company — the Discovery parts, basically.
“In reality, however, the total value is materially lower than advertised,” he said of the Netflix deal, which values the agreed-upon assets at $82.7 billion. Ellison also believes a Paramount acquisition has fewer regulatory hurdles to clear than the Netflix one.
“Our public offer — identical to the terms we presented to WBD privately — delivers superior value and a faster, more certain path to completion than the transaction announced with Netflix,” Ellison’s letter reads. “IT IS NOT TOO LATE TO REALIZE THE BENEFITS OF PARAMOUNT’S PROPOSAL IF YOU CHOOSE TO ACT NOW AND TENDER YOUR SHARES.”
The caps and bolding is all Ellison’s
A little later, the letter arguably got personal.
“To suggest that we are not “good for the money” (or might commit fraud to try to escape our obligations), as certain reports have speculated, is absurd,” it reads. “That absurdity is underscored by the fact that WBD and its advisors never picked up the phone or typed out a responsive text or email to raise any question or concern or to seek any clarification about either the trust or our equity commitment papers.”
Oh yes, the text messages in which Zaslav left Ellison on “Read.” It’s a whole thing with those two.
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