Sugar Daddy Larry Ellison Backs Up the Brinks Truck Worth $40B For Sons Desperate WBD Quiest…

David Ellison is giving us all Veruca Salt vibes… 

The silver spoon has revealed itself. After weeks of Warner Bros. Discovery acting like Paramount’s $30-per-share hostile bid was written in crayon, Daddy Ellison has now personally guaranteed $40.4 billion of the equity financing. And just like that, the main knock against Paramount’s offer… “yeah but will Larry actually show up?”... is gone. 

Remember when WBD chairman Samuel Di Piazza publicly wondered whether “one of the richest people in the world would be there at closing”? Awkward. Larry heard that. And Larry took that personally. 

(Source: Meme Wiki) 

Which is why Larry responded by anchoring the bid with 1.2 billion Oracle shares and legally promising not to do any financial witchcraft with his money. Of course, Paramount didn’t rais the price (still $30 a share), but it did raise the reverse breakup fee to $5.8B to match Netflix’s. Translation: “F*ck around and find out Netflix”. Get you a parent who believes in you like this.

Now, let’s zoom about a smidge. This whole thing has quietly turned into a personality test for WBD shareholders. On one side, Netflix: clean deal, fewer assets, fewer headaches, regulators maybe squinting but probably fine. On the other side: Paramount Skydance, buying the entire WBD baggage (read: cable networks, studios, legacy mess) with the promise that Ellison money makes everything hurt less.

(Source: Giphy) 

In other words, Netflix wants the crown jewels, and Paramount wants the whole castle and is willing to Venmo God if necessary. That said, Paramount knows exactly where the leverage is… and that’s the shareholders. Gerry Cardinale basically said the quiet part out loud on CNBC: the board doesn’t own this company. Shareholders do. If they want more money and a richer breakup fee safety net, Paramount is standing there waving cash and making eye contact. Which means the board is… well, kinda boxed in. They can say “we’ll carefully review,” but everyone knows what just happened. The biggest unanswered question got answered. Loudly.

Naturally, markets noticed. WBD popped. Paramount popped harder. Netflix slipped, because suddenly its “certainty” pitch doesn’t look so clean when the other bidder’s Daddy Warbucks just guaranteed $40B and his reputation with it. The funny part though, is that Paramount still says this isn’t even their best and final offer LOL. Meaning, sure… the Netflix deal may be simpler and cleaner. But the moment Larry Ellison personally backstopped the bid, Paramount all of a sudden went from stage-5 clinger to a frickin’ Chad in real time. 

(Source: Giphy) 

So given all this, let the staring contest begin. Spoiler: Larry Ellison does not blink. Until next time, friends… 

At the time of publishing, Stocks.News holds positions in Netflix as mentioned in the article.