Warner Bros reportedly poised to reject Paramount’s $108bn hostile takeover bid
Warner Bros Discovery is poised to tell shareholders to reject Paramount’s $108bn (£81bn) hostile bid, according to reports, clearing the way for Netflix to proceed with its buyout of the Hollywood film and TV group.The board could announce a decision as early as Wednesday after Paramount Skydance – run by David Ellison and bankrolled by his billionaire father, Larry, who founded Oracle – went directly to shareholders with its rival offer almost two weeks ago.Netflix had won the auction for the studio and streaming company with an $82.7bn bid a few days earlier – taking control of prize assets including the Harry Potter and DC Comics superhero film franchises, as well as HBO, home to hit shows including Game of Thrones, The White Lotus and Succession.The streaming company’s deal does not cover WBD’s cable channels, which include CNN, TBS and TNT, which are set to be spun off into a separate company next year.
Despite Paramount tabling a higher all-cash offer to take over all of WBD’s assets, the Financial Times said the board had less confidence in it because it is backed by the Ellison family trust, which is worth close to $250bn in Oracle stock, rather than personally by Larry Ellison,WBD is expected to focus on four central criticisms of Paramount’s offer, arguing that its value, financing and terms are deficient compared with Netflix’s cash and shares offer, according to reports,On Tuesday, Affinity Partners, the investment company run by Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser, pulled out of backing Paramount’s bid,Paramount has accused WBD’s board of not engaging properly with its offer, prompting the company to go hostile, and has said that it is not its “best and final” deal,The company has argued that Netflix’s bid is likely to face more regulatory scrutiny, as buying HBO Max will give it dominance in the North American streaming market in particular, while Netflix has argued that if big players such as YouTube are included this is not the case.
Netflix has offered a $5,8bn termination fee, a high amount for a takeover transaction, indicating the streaming company’s confidence it can get the deal through the regulatory process,There have also been questions raised about whether regulators would object to the high level of funding that Paramount has sourced from sovereign wealth funds in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi,Filings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission show that the three sovereign wealth funds will contribute $24bn, almost 60% of the $40,7bn in equity, twice what the Ellisons are contributing.
Federal Communications Commission ownership rules prevent foreign investors from owning 20% of broadcast or telecoms licensees such as CBS and CNN.Paramount has said that these rules do not apply in the case of its offer as the wealth funds have agreed to forgo governance rights, including board representation.WBD and Paramount declined to comment.
George Osborne joins OpenAI: ex-chancellor adds tech post to his CV
The former UK chancellor George Osborne is joining OpenAI to lead the ChatGPT developer’s relationships with governments around the world.He will head a division known internally as OpenAI for Countries, through which the San Francisco artificial intelligence startup works with governments on national-level AI rollouts.The former Conservative politician will add the role to his growing portfolio of positions which include: chair of the British Museum; adviser to the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase; and host of a podcast with the former Labour minister Ed Balls.Osborne is moving on from his role as senior managing director at Evercore, which acquired the investment bank Robey Warshaw in July where he was partner, and will be based in London rather than Silicon Valley.His hiring by OpenAI is the latest sign the big US tech firms are becoming increasingly focused on boosting AI adoption by national governments
Deals put UK-US trade relationship in the spotlight | Letters
Far from costing British lives, as Aditya Chakrabortty suggests (What will be the cost of Keir Starmer’s new medicines deal with Donald Trump? British lives, 11 December), the UK-US medicines agreement is designed to support NHS patients by improving access to new and innovative treatments.The agreement raises the baseline threshold used by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence to assess the cost-effectiveness for new medicines, enabling more treatments to be considered for NHS use.It does not retrospectively increase the price of existing branded medicines. It also caps repayment rates for newer medicines at no more than 15% from 2026 to 2028, replacing an unpredictable system that has hampered investment and patient access to cutting-edge treatments.The UK has fallen behind international competitors in both life sciences investment and access to innovative medicines
Ministers ‘break word’ on protecting nature after weakening biodiversity planning rule
The government has broken its promise to protect nature by weakening planning rules for housing developers, groups have said.While developers once had to create “biodiversity net gain” (BNG), meaning creating 10% more space for nature on site than there was before the building took place, the housing minister Matthew Pennycook announced exemptions to this rule on Tuesday.Under the new rules developments under 0.2 hectares are exempted from the policy. Analysis from the Wildlife Trusts has found that this means a combined area across England the size of Windsor forest will now not be restored for nature
UK politics: Employment rights bill set to become law after Lords backing – as it happened
The House of Lords has passed the employment rights bill. Last week Tory and cross-bench peers defeated the government over one aspect of the bill – a last-minute addition lifting the cap on compensation paid to people who win a case for unfair dismissal – but that defeat was overturned on Monday and this afternoon peers debated the bill again. This time the Tories and cross-benchers dropped their opposition to the measure, and the bill as agreed by the Commons was approved without a division.That means it will now get royal assent very shortly.Lord Sharpe of Epsom, the Conservative spokesperson, told peers that a letter from business groups released by the government yesterday, in which the business groups urged peers to pass the bill, showed that ministers had “misrepresented” the compromise deal unveiled last month
Penitent Tice tussles with The Unbearable Lightness of His Being | John Crace
Call it a Christmas miracle. For this was the day when Richard Tice sent in his application to become a fully paid-up member of Woke. The day the Reform deputy leader tried to break free from his role as the perennial sidekick. An insignificant blot on the Nigel Farage landscape. When he tried to show he was able to think his own thoughts
How far must UK go to fend off threat of foreign interference in its elections?
Russia has been attempting to meddle with western democracy for years, but successive governments led by Boris Johnson and others have insisted that the UK’s electoral system can withstand its influence.That argument was recently blown apart by the conviction of former Reform politician Nathan Gill, jailed for 10 years for accepting bribes to advance Russian arguments.And now Steve Reed, the cabinet minister responsible for elections, has admitted there are worries that the UK’s “firewall” against foreign interference may not be strong enough as he ordered an independent review.The decision is clearly partly motivated by the chance to score political points against Reform UK over its links to the Russian bribe case. And yet there is no doubting the reality of the threat, even if it has until recently been ignored
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