billionaire Larry Ellison lends financial support to Paramount Skydance bid

This close friend of Donald Trump is ready to personally guarantee $40.4 billion to support the offer of the group led by his son. For now, the WBD board preferred Netflix’s proposal.

Billionaire Larry Ellison, close to Donald Trump, does not intend to let go of the Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) case. The third richest man in the world has provided his personal guarantee to the tune of 40.4 billion dollars (34 billion euros) to the Paramount Skydance group, headed by his son David, for its offer to buy WBD, according to a document published Monday, December 22.

This communication comes a few days after the board of directors of WBD refused the proposal from Paramount Skydance, for an amount of 108.4 billion dollars (92 billion euros), debt included, notably questioning the commitment in this assembly of Larry Ellison, president of the Oracle group, and preferring the competitor Netflix. If Paramount Skydance modified, according to the document published Monday, several parameters of its offer, it did not raise it.

The price proposed by Netflix, of 82.7 billion dollars (70 billion euros), including debt, relates only to part of WBD and notably excludes the group’s channels, which include CNN and Discovery. The acquisition by Netflix would come after these assets were separated from the rest of the company and housed in a new listed entity, called Discovery Global. Paramount Skydance, for its part, wishes to take charge of all of WBD.