Paramount Sweetens Warner Bros. Bid as Larry Ellison Personally Guarantees $40.4 Billion in Equity Financing

Paramount is still trying to pry Warner Bros. Discovery away from that freshly announced Netflix deal, and now they have a new sweetener: Larry Ellison himself stepping in with a personal guarantee. Yes, that Larry Ellison. It is a very unusual move for a studio chase, and it signals how badly Paramount wants this.

Where things stood

Earlier this month, WBD said no thanks to Paramount and reaffirmed its plan to merge with Netflix. WBD chair Samuel A. Di Piazza Jr. said the initial Paramount tender was not only light on value but heavy on risk and cost for shareholders, and he pointed out that the company had already batted away half a dozen iterations of the same idea.

'Following a careful evaluation of Paramount's recently launched tender offer, the Board concluded that the offer's value is inadequate, with significant risks and costs imposed on our shareholders. This offer once again fails to address key concerns that we have consistently communicated to Paramount throughout our extensive engagement and review of their six previous proposals. We are confident that our merger with Netflix represents superior, more certain value for our shareholders and we look forward to delivering on the compelling benefits of our combination.'

What changed in Paramount's new bid

Per The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount has reworked its counter and kept the headline price the same at 30 dollars a share, but added some serious reassurances aimed at the boardrooms and lawyers. The standout addition: Oracle founder Larry Ellison is personally guaranteeing the equity financing that underpins the offer.

• Larry Ellison will backstop 40.4 billion dollars of equity tied to the deal, and he has agreed not to revoke the Ellison family trust or shift assets out of it while the transaction is pending.
• The price remains 30 dollars per WBD share, all cash.
• The termination fee is now 5.8 billion dollars, which matches Netflix.
• The tender offer end date is extended to January 21, 2026, giving WBD shareholders a longer window to reconsider; Paramount says it could extend further if needed.

Paramount makes its pitch

David Ellison is framing this as the growth play. He reiterated that the 30 dollars-per-share, fully financed, all-cash proposal originally put on the table December 4 is, in Paramount's view, still the best way to maximize value for WBD shareholders. He also argues their ownership would mean more spending on content, more movies in theaters, and more choice for consumers, and he is pressing the WBD board to move forward to 'preserve and strengthen an iconic Hollywood treasure.'

Netflix is not sweating it

Netflix expected counter-programming here and is projecting confidence that its deal will close. Co-CEO Greg Peters told CNBC he thinks their proposal is strong, the structure is clean, and the WBD board has already signaled it sees Netflix as the most certain path forward.

Why this is a head-turner

It is not every day you see a tech billionaire personally backstop tens of billions in studio-financing risk, complete with trust restrictions, just to keep a media acquisition on track. That is the big swing in Paramount's revision. Also eyebrow-raising: WBD says it already evaluated six earlier Paramount tries before blessing the Netflix merger. Matching Netflix's breakup fee and pushing the tender deadline out to 2026 is an attempt to pry open that door again. Whether it works is another story, but the message is clear: Paramount is not backing off, and Netflix is not blinking.