Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters aren’t worried about Paramount‘s hostile bid for Warner Bros.
The Netflix co-CEOs addressed the elephant in the room right at the beginning of a session at a UBS conference in New York Monday afternoon.
“Today’s move was entirely expected,” Sarandos said. “We have a deal done, and we are really happy with the deal for shareholders, for consumers, it’s a great way to create and protect jobs in the entertainment industry. We’re super confident we are going to get it across.”
Their interview came just hours after Paramount, led by David Ellison, launched a hostile tender offer for Warner Bros., seeking to peel off the company from Netflix’s grasp.
“The Paramount offer for the entirety of WBD provides shareholders $18 billion more in cash than the Netflix consideration,” Paramount said in its bid. “WBD’s Board of Directors recommendation of the Netflix transaction over Paramount’s offer is based on an illusory prospective valuation of Global Networks that is unsupported by the business fundamentals and encumbered by high levels of financial leverage assigned to the entity.”
Netflix has been strategic in its pursuit of Warner Bros., including a secret meeting between Sarandos and President Trump last month, which the deal came up. Trump subsequently called Sarandos “fantastic” but nonetheless said the deal could be “problematic.”
Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is among the backers of Paramount’s bid for Warners.
www.hollywoodreporter.com
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