Paramount battles for seats on Warner board as it looks to take control of its Hollywood rival

Paramount Skydance is bidding to win seats on the board of Warner Bros Discovery in its battle to take control of its Hollywood rival.In the latest twist in the blockbuster takeover saga, Mission Impossible studio Paramount said it ‘intends to nominate directors for election’ at the Warner Bros annual meeting in June.If successful, these directors would vote against the planned takeover of Warner Bros by Netflix and do a deal with Paramount, whose films also include The Godfather, Titanic and Top Gun.Warner Bros last week rejected Paramount’s £81billion offer, which is backed by boss David Ellison’s father Larry – the billionaire co-founder of Oracle.Instead, Warner Bros bosses are backing a £62billion offer from Netflix, although this involves just its film studios and streaming business and not its cable-TV assets, which would be spun off.As well as seeking seats on the Warner Bros board, Paramount yesterday filed a lawsuit to force its rival to disclose fresh details of the Netflix deal, to help shareholders decide.  Lucrative: Tom Cruise stars in the first instalment of the Mission Impossible franchise in 1996And it urged Warner Bros investors to reject the Netflix offer.‘Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) has provided increasingly novel reasons for avoiding a transaction with Paramount, but what it has never said, because it cannot, is that the Netflix transaction is financially superior to our actual offer,’ Paramount wrote in a letter to Warner Bros shareholders.‘Unless the WBD board decides to exercise its right to engage with us under the Netflix merger agreement, this will likely come down to your vote at a shareholder meeting.’Netflix struck an agreement to buy Warner Bros last month in a deal handing the streamer one of Hollywood’s most prized assets.Warner Bros was set up in 1923 – three-quarters of a century before Netflix – and is behind films from Casablanca to Harry Potter while its HBO arm made Sex And The City, Game Of Thrones and The Sopranos.But Paramount is seeking to gatecrash the deal and bring together two of Hollywood’s most famous studios.Paramount’s argument – one it is using to sway investors – is that its all-cash offer for the whole of Warner Bros offers more certainty than the deal with Netflix for the studios and streaming assets and will more easily clear regulatory hurdles.DIY INVESTING PLATFORMSAJ BellAJ BellEasy investing and ready-made portfoliosHargreaves LansdownHargreaves LansdownFree fund dealing and investment ideasinteractive investorinteractive investorFlat-fee investing from £4.99 per monthFreetradeFreetradeInvesting Isa now free on basic planTrading 212Trading 212Free share dealing and no account feeAffiliate links: If you take out a product This is Money may earn a commission. These deals are chosen by our editorial team, as we think they are worth highlighting. This does not affect our editorial independence.Compare the best investing account for you Share or comment on this article: Paramount battles for seats on Warner board as it looks to take control of its Hollywood rival

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