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Paramount has officially launched a tender offer for current WBD shares at $30 per share, all cash. That bid is backed by $41 billion in equity financing. The remainder will be money from RedBird Capital and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners. Paramount also has $54 billion in debt commitments from Bank of America, Citi and Apollo Global Management. Paramount’s tender offer will be open for 20 business days, Paramount Chief Strategy Officer Andy Gordon said during a conference call for investors Monday. Warner Bros. Discovery has 10 days to respond, and after the 20 business days are up, Paramount has the...

President Donald Trump said Sunday that the proposed $72 billion merger between Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery "could be a problem" because of the amount of market share the resulting company would have. The value of the deal balloons to more than $82 billion when debt is accounted for. Netflix said Friday it would purchase Warner Bros. Discovery's film studio, HBO and the streaming service HBO Max. If the deal is approved, Netflix would also get access to decades of films and shows in the Warner Bros. Pictures archive. The deal would not include cable networks owned by Warner Bros....

Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren blasted Netflix's planned acquisition of Warner Bros. and HBO on Friday, saying the deal "looks like an anti-monopoly nightmare." Warner Bros. Discovery announced Friday it has agreed to sell its streaming and studios assets to Netflix in a deal valued at $82.7 billion, setting the stage for one of the most sweeping and consequential mergers in modern Hollywood history. "A Netflix-Warner Bros. would create one massive media giant with control of close to half of the streaming market — threatening to force Americans into higher subscription prices and fewer choices over what and how they...

What to know about the $82.7-billion Netflix-Warner Bros. deal that will reshape Hollywood Netflix and Warner Bros. announced early this morning a blockbuster $82.7-billion deal for the TV streamer to acquire Warner Bros. film and television studios, HBO Max and HBO. Here’s what we know so far. The takeover would give Netflix such beloved characters and franchises as Batman, Harry Potter and “Game of Thrones.” Netflix’s cash and stock transaction is valued at about $27.75 per Warner Bros. Discovery share. Netflix will take on another $10 billion in Warner Bros. debt. Warner’s cable channels, including CNN, TNT and HGTV, are...

Key Points Warner Bros. Discovery said it is open to a sale as it expands its strategic review. The company had planned to split into two separate entities and is not abandoning those plans. WBD said it’s received “unsolicited interest” from multiple parties. =============================================================== Warner Bros. Discovery said Tuesday it’s expanding its strategic review of the business and is open to a sale, sending shares of the company 8% higher in premarket trading. Earlier this year, WBD announced plans to split into two separate entities, a streaming and studios business and a global networks business. It’s also been fielding takeout...

It’s lights out and away we go at the box office as “F1,” a big-budget racing drama starring Brad Pitt, impressively revs to $55.6 million in its domestic opening weekend. With great reviews and a promising “A” grade on CinemaScore exit polls, “F1” landed in the middle of expectations of $50 million to $60 million. At the international box office, the film collected a strong $88.4 million from 78 markets. Those initial ticket sales are significant given “F1” is an adult-skewing tentpole that’s not part of an existing film franchise — a rarity in today’s I.P.-dominated movie theater landscape. Directed...

The answer to the age-old question “Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?” is about to change. Warner Bros. Discovery has decided not to renew its deal for new episodes of the iconic children’s series, according to The Hollywood Reporter, forcing the beloved characters to seek a new home. Before you get too worried, however, previous episodes of Sesame Street will remain available in Max‘s library through 2027, per the streamer’s licensing deal. “It has been a wonderful, creative experience working with everyone at Sesame Street on the iconic children’s series and we are thrilled to be...

Paapa Essiedu is being eyed for the role of Professor Severus Snape in the upcoming “Harry Potter” TV series, Variety has confirmed with sources. According to sources, no deal is currently in place and Essiedu has not formally accepted the role. He is the latest actor to be mentioned for a role in the series. Variety previously reported that Academy Award winner Mark Rylance was in the running for the role of Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore. Variety has reached out to HBO and Warner Bros. for comment and will update this story should they respond. SNIP

Warner Bros. has made it official: It will be returning to Middle-earth. On Warner Bros. Discovery’s first-quarter earnings conference call on Thursday, CEO David Zaslav said that the company is “now in the early stages of script development” for new Lord of the Rings movies, which he says they “anticipate releasing in 2026” and will “explore storylines yet to be told.” The first film, from New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures, will be called Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum (working title), with Andy Serkis set to star and direct the feature,

A New York attorney has filed a bizarre lawsuit accusing Ben Affleck and Matt Damon of stalking and harassing her to use private details of her life in their work by bugging her home. Court documents obtained by DailyMail.com accuse Affleck and Damon of not only bugging the woman’s home but also hacking her devices, leaving her in fear she would be raped or kidnapped. The lawsuit claims that her identity and personal experiences were used to develop SNL skits at the time Affleck was dating a producer Lindsay Shookus, and as well as in films produced by Harvey Weinstein....

We talk a lot about how woke Disney-owned Marvel is, but it's biggest competitor DC isn't learning any lessons Marvel's failures. In fact, they seem to be going all out to go out of business first. The bi-sexual Superman comic they launched lasted all of one year. Then there were the shameless diversity covers that essentially equated Hispanic people with food. Remarkably, Dr. Jill Biden's breakfast tacos didn't make the cut. Sorry, San Antonio! And now, DC is trying again by introducing a new gay-Green Lantern title called Green Lantern: Alan Scott. And if turning another superhero into a flaming...

Vietnam has banned Warner Bros.’ highly anticipated film “Barbie” from domestic distribution over a scene featuring a map that shows China’s unilaterally claimed territory in the South China Sea, state media reported on Monday. (Warner Bros’, like CNN, is a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery.) The U-shaped “nine-dash line” is used on Chinese maps to illustrate its claims over vast areas of the South China Sea, including swathes of what Vietnam considers its continental shelf, where it has awarded oil concessions. “Barbie” is the latest movie to be banned in Vietnam for depicting China’s controversial nine-dash line, which was repudiated...

Previously unseen text messages reveal how CNN lobbied the former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on behalf of its parent company Warner Bros. to reopen theaters during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a text sent to Andrew Cuomo in September 2020, CNN's chief marketing officer at the time, Allison Gollust, appeared to request the governor meet then-Warner Bros. CEO Ann Sarnoff. 'She's bummed you don't open theaters in NY, but perhaps you can hear her out,' Gollust said in the message, which was first reported on by Semafor.

More “Harry Potter” movies may not be a fantasy. Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav wondered Thursday if the company “can do something” more with the franchise with controversial “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling. Variety reported that during Thursday’s earnings call, Zaslav was asked how content will be “different” under Warner Bros. Discovery compared to the AT&T-run WarnerMedia era. Zaslav responded that the company is going to have “a real focus on franchises.” “We haven’t had a ‘Superman’ movie in 13 years. We haven’t done a ‘Harry Potter’ movie in 15 years. The DC movies and the ‘Harry Potter’ movies...

The DC Comics film “Batgirl” will be completely “shelved” by Warner Bros., a top Hollywood source told The Post. That means it won’t hit theaters or the streaming service HBO Max. Fans will not see it.

Amber Heard is 'being cut from Aquaman 2 and will have her $2 million role recast' sources have claimed - just hours after the actress landed herself at the center of yet another scandal by repeating her allegations of abuse against ex-husband Johnny Depp, despite being found guilty of defamation for accusing him of sexual assault. According to Just Jared, the 36-year-old actress - who has already completed filming on the sequel to the 2018 sci-fi movie in which she starred alongside Jason Momoa - was officially dropped from the cast after Warner Bros 'screentested the movie', which is due...

Warner Bros Discovery has suspended all external marketing spend for its recently launched streaming service CNN+ and laid off CNN's finance chief Brad Ferrer,

The entertainment industry, particularly as represented by Hollywood, is a vast, virtue signaling, repository of frauds and hypocrites.In yet another recent example of this, Warner Bros. admitted to cutting scenes with gay dialogue out of its latest "Fantastic Beasts" movie in order to appease Chinese censors. The company released a statement to News.com.au confirming that it complied with the CCP’s censorship request. It read:As a studio, we’re committed to safeguarding the integrity of every film we release, and that extends to circumstances that necessitate making nuanced cuts in order to respond sensitively to a variety of in-market factors. Our hope...

Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors is stepping down as executive director of the organization amid controversy over her $3 million property portfolio. Cullors, who has been at the helm of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation for nearly six years, announced the news on Thursday. The 37-year-old activist told The Associated Press that she is leaving to focus on other projects, including the upcoming release of her second book and a multi-year TV development deal with Warner Bros.

AT&T says it will receive an $43 billion in a combination of cash and debt ===================================================================== AT&T said Monday the U.S. telecommunication giant has reached a deal to combine its content unit, WarnerMedia, with Discovery, an agreement that would help the major Hollywood studios compete with such rivals as Netflix and Disney. AT&T says it will receive an $43 billion in a combination of cash, debt and WarnerMedia’s retention of certain debt, according to CNBC. The deal, if approved by regulators, effectively reverses AT&T’s years-long plan to combine content and distribution in a vertically integrated company. The deal would create...