Exclusive | Paramount Skydance may raise bid for Warner Bros. Discovery by 10% after going hostile: sources

Paramount Skydance is considering raising its takeover offer for Warner Bros.Discovery by as much as 10% as it plots its next move to break up a merger agreement with Netflix, The Post has learned.David and Larry Ellison, who created Paramount Skydance with a media merger over the summer, are now poised to bump their all-cash, $30-a-share offer for the owner of Warner Bros., HBO and CNN to as much as $33 a share, according to sources close to the situation.The raised offer – which amounts to nearly $86 billion – would easily cover the $2.8 billion breakup fee, worth about $1 a share, that WBD would face if it nixes the Netflix merger, insiders noted.The Ellisons are also willing to add a “sweetener” of at least two more dollars a share to try to seal the deal with the WBD shareholders they have been courting this week with their now “hostile” overture for the company, people with knowledge of the matter say.“(They’re) not going to be jerked around,” one source said of the Ellisons.

“But yeah, they’re prepared to move higher.”Executives inside Paramount Skydance, including the Ellisons and their partners at RedBird Capital run by media dealmaker Gerry Cardinale, have made no formal decision on increasing their offer, people close to the matter said. Before throwing more money at a deal, they plan to wait until Dec.22, when the WBD its board is slated to provide a formal answer to Paramount Skydance’s pitch, which argues its $30-a-share, all-cash offer for the entire company was superior to the $30.75 cash-and-stock winning bid made by Netflix for the Warner Bros.

studio and HBO Max streaming service.The Ellisons cited several reasons including “regulatory certainty,” given the streaming overlap of the Netflix deal.Meanwhile, Netflix is contemplating its own counter bid for WBD if and when Paramount Skydance makes its next move, according to a person with knowledge of its intentions.How high the bidding could go is anyone’s guess.Da...