Ted Sarandos has made no secret of his frustration with hurdles that emerged Tuesday in Netflix’s plan to acquire Warner Bros. and HBO Max through an $83 billion sale deal reached in December.
Sarandos said in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday that Paramount Skydance spread falsehoods aimed at destabilizing the Netflix deal. Under pressure from shareholders, WBD asked Netflix for a seven-day waiver to begin new negotiations with Paramount Group. Netflix has granted a waiver to resolve the uncertainty and move forward with a major shareholder vote scheduled for March 20th.
Paramount Skydance is running a campaign that “floods the zone with misinformation and creates a ton of really wild what-if scenarios,” at every end of the spectrum, let alone at the top of the spectrum, Sarandos told CNBC’s Julia Boorstin. “The most likely outcome is that there will be no adjustment at all. Warner has been very clear that its intention is to maximize cash for shareholders.”
Sarandos maintained that he was confident that Netflix would complete the deal and saw no reason for the federal government to “block it.” He also took aim at Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison’s assertion that Paramount Skydance would have an easier time gaining regulatory approval for a deal than Netflix, given the streaming giant’s place in the new world order of entertainment.
For Paramount Skydance, Sarandos said, “There is no quicker regulatory route than this. I don’t know why the Ellisons would imply that they have any inside information within the Department of Justice, but I can assure you that this is not the case. And in terms of regulating our company in Europe and around the world, we are known and trusted by all companies in Europe.” “And in fact, our deal is that by not acquiring Discovery Global, we will not disrupt the European broadcast system at all.”
Sarandos explained that despite signing the acquisition agreement, granting a waiver to allow WBD to participate in negotiations with Paramount was an effort to move the deal forward.
“We have given these shareholders the opportunity to get exactly what they deserve, and this is to make absolutely clear and ensure what the value of these transactions is,” Sarandos said. “And what we believe is that Netflix’s deal to acquire these assets is the best deal and will create the best value for shareholders. And they think so too. That’s why they recommended this deal and why they reiterated their recommendation for that deal after this deal. So please give them seven days to put the money down.”
Sarandos declined to elaborate when asked about a concept that surfaced in a WBD Securities and Exchange Commission filing in which Paramount officials floated a proposal to raise the offer for the company to $31 from the current $30.
“Our goal here is to make sure that people have seven days to figure out exactly where they stand, and then there will be a vote on March 20th and they will make a decision. And we are confident that the Warner Bros. Discovery board and shareholders who continue to support this (Netflix) deal will come to the same conclusion that this is the best value for Warner Bros. Discovery,” he said.
