Paramount is sweetening its hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery with an “irrevocable personal guarantee” from Larry Ellison, who is putting up billions of dollars to back the deal for his son’s company.
On Monday, Skydance-owned Paramount announced that Larry Ellison — the founder of Oracle and father of Paramount CEO David Ellison — had personally agreed to be responsible for $40.4 billion of equity financing for the company’s offer, as well as any damage claims.
Paramount had previously said that the Ellison family trust would be backing more than $40 billion of its bid for Warner. But Warner’s board was critical of that decision last week, arguing that Paramount had “consistently misled” shareholders about the Ellison family’s backing because a “revocable trust is no replacement for a secured commitment.”
Paramount took a swipe at that assertion on Monday — maintaining that Larry Ellison holds the majority of the trust’s assets and that Warner had not previously asked for a personal guarantee. But nevertheless, the company said, it “elected to address WBD’s current stated concerns.”
Beyond doubling down on Ellison’s backing, Paramount also said it would increased its payout if the deal is blocked by regulators. The company is now upping the breakup fee to $5.8 billion — matching what Netflix has already put on the table for its proposed transaction.
