Over 100 billion dollars! Paramount joins the bidding war for Warner Bros.
Donald Trump could also play a decisive role
The big bidding war for Warner Bros. is entering the next round! After Netflix announced its intention to take over the studio last week, Paramount Pictures is now firing back with a huge counter-offer.
The company is offering 30 dollars per share – and all in cash. Netflix had previously agreed with Warner on 27.75 dollars per share. Extrapolating Paramount's offer results in a total sum of 108.4 billion dollars – more than 18 billion dollars above the Netflix package.
One crucial difference: Paramount is bidding for the entire Warner company. This also includes major TV channels such as CNN, which makes it difficult to directly compare the offers. However, both concepts also include the assumption of existing Warner debt, which drives up the effective enterprise value even further.
Paramount is trying to make its position more palatable via a dedicated website – StrongerHollywood.com. There, the company argues that its offer is more financially stable, quicker to implement and less risky.
Whether Warner will accept this offer remains questionable. The studio still has the option of canceling the deal with Netflix. However, the agreement provides for an exit clause – in return for a penalty payment of 2.8 billion dollars. Netflix and Warner also appear to be prepared for Paramount to follow suit. Industry insiders assume that both companies have already developed a strategy to remain unimpressed by such disruptive maneuvers.
US President Donald Trump could also play a significant role in the proceedings. He is close friends with Larry Ellison, the father of Paramount CEO David Ellison – actually an advantage for Paramount. However, Trump recently surprised everyone with clear words against CBS and thus indirectly against Paramount after the broadcaster granted Trump's critics airtime. At the same time, it also became known that Netflix boss Ted Sarandos had a detailed conversation with Trump shortly before the Warner announcement.
The conflict surrounding the prestigious Warner company is therefore far from over and we assume that there will be a lot more to come in the next few days.
The biggest franchises, films and series from Warner Bros. and HBO
Warner Bros. has been one of the most influential media companies in the world for decades. Together with HBO, they have shaped the film and series landscape – Warner Bros. primarily in the cinema and blockbuster sector, HBO in the segment of high-quality premium series. Together they represent some of the most successful and best-known brands in pop culture.
Warner Bros.: blockbusters, film series and iconic brands
The DC universe is one of the largest and commercially most important Warner Bros. franchises. Characters such as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and the Joker have shaped cinema and pop culture for decades. The most important DC films include Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight" trilogy, "Joker", "The Batman" and the newly launched "DCU" under James Gunn.
With the eight-part "Harry Potter" film series, Warner Bros. created the most successful fantasy franchise after "The Lord of the Rings". The "Fantastic Beasts" films, which were added later, expanded the universe, which has delighted millions of fans worldwide and become a central brand pillar for Warner – including theme parks, games and spin-offs.
Warner Bros. is closely associated with Peter Jackson's epic Middle-earth sagas through New Line Cinema. The "Lord of the Rings" trilogy is still considered a revolutionary masterpiece that won numerous Oscars and changed fantasy cinema forever. The later "Hobbit" trilogy also cemented the franchise as a global crowd-puller.
The modern MonsterVerse, led by Godzilla and King Kong, developed into a successful action and effects franchise for Warner Bros. Films such as "Godzilla", "Kong: Skull Island", "Godzilla X Kong" and other sequels demonstrate the enduring fascination with kaiju blockbusters. Numerous other films such as "The Matrix", "Blade Runner", "Mad Max: Fury Road", "Inception" and "Gravity" are also popular. Most recently, film highlights such as "Superman" and "Sinners" caused a sensation.
HBO: Prestige series and revolutionary television
While Warner Bros. dominates cinema, HBO has shaped modern quality TV. The broadcaster is considered a pioneer of the "Golden Age of Television" and produces some of the most successful series of all time.
Hardly any other series has shaped the world in the 21st century as much as "Game of Thrones". It dominated global pop culture for eight seasons. The franchise will continue with "House of the Dragon" and, in future, "Knight of the Seven Kingdoms". The video game adaptation "The Last of Us" immediately became a modern HBO hit and is considered a model for how high-quality game adaptations can work.
With its dark tone and top-class cast, "True Detective" marked a milestone in the anthology genre and underlined HBO's claim to exceptional series quality. "Succession" established itself as a modern prestige drama about power, politics and family dynamics and is one of the most acclaimed productions of recent years. With "The Sopranos", HBO laid the foundation for today's "quality TV" and had a lasting impact on the series medium. This portfolio is complemented by successful and style-defining productions such as "Westworld", "Euphoria", "Chernobyl" and "The Wire".
