Paramount blasts Warner Bros. Discovery as auction nears contentious end

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As the high-stakes auction for Warner Bros.Discovery nears its end, Paramount is crying foul, alleging the process was tipped in favor of a competing bidder: Netflix.In a scorching letter sent to Warner Bros.

Discovery Chief Executive David Zaslav late Wednesday, Paramount’s lawyers accused Zaslav’s company of not playing fair.“WBD appears to have abandoned the semblance and reality of a fair transaction process, thereby abdicating its duties to stockholders, and embarked on a myopic process with a predetermined outcome that favors a single bidder,” attorneys for Paramount wrote.The bidder is Netflix.Early on, the Larry Ellison-family controlled Paramount appeared to have the best chance to win Warner Bros.

Discovery.Paramount launched its campaign to buy the larger media company, which owns HBO and CNN, in September, one month after the Ellisons’ Skydance Media and RedBird Capital Partners wrapped up their purchase of Paramount.But Warner Bros.

Discovery’s board rejected Paramount’s overtures, and opened the sale up to other bidders, allowing Netflix and Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal, to jump in.Hollywood Inc.

Jockeying for HBO-owner Warner Bros.Discovery has intensified as the auction appears to enter its home stretch.People close to the process said recently the ground seemed to shift beneath Paramount, allowing Netflix, which has offered a largely cash bid, to gain an edge.Initially, analysts felt that the Ellison family’s warm relations with President Trump almost certainly guaranteed that Paramount would ensure a quick and smooth regulatory approval.

Trump weighed in, saying Paramount should win the prize, allowing the Ellisons to control CBS News as well as CNN.However, the prospect of the Ellisons gaining such a huge swath of U.S.media did not sit well with foreign leaders wary of Trump, according to a person close to the auction who was not autho...