The Trump administration is reportedly in favor of Paramount Skydance taking over Warner Bros. Discovery, despite the latter’s board already rejecting three separate bids from the newly-formed media company.
According to a report from The New York Post’s On the Money, an unnamed government official with direct knowledge said Paramount Skydance — helmed by CEO David Ellison, the son of Oracle co-founder/Trump supporter Larry Ellison — was in an advantageous position as WBD prepares to sell off its assets.
“Who owns Warner Bros. Discovery is very important to the administration,” the senior Trump admin official told the outlet. “The Warner board needs to think very seriously not just on the price competition but which player in the suitor pool has been successful getting a deal done.”
Per the official, this “points to the Ellisons.”
White House representatives did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Ellison has previously declined to comment on his company’s bids for WBD, however, he did note earlier this month that any dealmaking by Paramount would be approached “through the lens of wanting to make more, not less.”
“The way we approach everything is first and foremost, what’s good for the talent community, what’s good for our shareholders and value creation and what’s good for basically, storytelling at large,” Ellison shared at Bloomberg’s Screentime conference.
On Wednesday, The New York Times shared a letter written by Ellison to WBD’s board, in which he stated that Paramount would be its “best partner.” He added that the two companies would create a “scaled Hollywood champion to the benefit of both our companies’ shareholders, consumers and the entertainment industry at large.”
Additionally, Ellison suggested any other would-be-bidders would face “significant (perhaps insurmountable) hurdles given their dominant market positions.”
Ellison also offered WBD CEO/President David Zaslav a co-CEO and co-chairman title to sweeten the bid. Yet, Warner Bros. Discovery rejected three separate takeover bids from Paramount — including one that was nearly $24 per share and was 80% cash and 20% stock
Paramount Skydance may not be the only interested party either, as Apple, Amazon, Comcast and Netflix have been floated as potential suitors for WBD. However, the senior government official expressed doubt over Comcast’s Brian Roberts being able to “expand and buy CNN or whatever,” calling it a “low” chance.
“Maybe Brain Roberts comes up [with] grand detente with the president,” they added, “but I don’t think that will happen and that’s the key.”
Comcast and Amazon declined TheWrap’s request for comment.
Though, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said on Tuesday that the streamer would be “choosy” with regard to M&A, making it clear they had no interest in acquiring linear networks.
“It’s true that historically, we’ve been more builders than buyers, and we think we have plenty of runway for growth without fundamentally changing that playbook. Nothing is a must-have for us to meet our goals that we have for the business,” Sarandos said at the time. “But we focus on profitable growth and reinvesting in our business, both organically and through selective M&A. And when it comes to M&A opportunities, we look at them, and we look at all of them.”
