Warner Bros. Discovery, the bell of the Hollywood ball, fired back against a “meritless lawsuit” from Paramount, which is staging a proxy fight to acquire the studio. After WBD rejected Paramount’s latest offer to purchase the studio without adjusting the $30-per-share price or addressing “the numerous and obvious deficiencies of its offer,” David Ellison’s company, Paramount Skydance, filed a lawsuit in Delaware under the guise of giving shareholders the opportunity to “make an informed decision” regarding the sale.
Per Deadline, Paramount’s suit would “ask the court to simply direct WBD to provide disclosure about how it valued the Global Networks stub equity, how it valued the overall Netflix transaction, how the purchase price reduction for debt works in the Netflix transaction, or even what the basis is for its ‘risk adjustment’ of our $30 per share all-cash offer.” The suit seeks disclosure of “basic information to enable WBD shareholders to make informed decision.” Additionally, in a letter to shareholders, Ellison announced that Paramount Skydance plans to nominate directors for the WBD board at WBD’s 2026 shareholder meeting, setting the stage for a proxy fight that could create a significant problem for Netflix’s purchase of the studio.
In response, WBD called the suit “meritless” and slammed the would-be buyer in a statement: “Despite six weeks and just as many press releases from Paramount Skydance, it has yet to raise the price or address the numerous and obvious deficiencies of its offer. Instead, Paramount Skydance is seeking to distract with a meritless lawsuit and attacks on a board that has delivered an unprecedented amount of shareholder value. In spite of its multiple opportunities, Paramount Skydance continues to propose a transaction that our board unanimously concluded is not superior to the merger agreement with Netflix.” Netflix won the WBD bake-off late last year, with Warner Bros. agreeing to sell its studio and streaming properties for $82.7 billion.
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