Chuck Darwin

As Paramount moved Monday to sweeten its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery,
a high-stakes political battle is playing out behind the scenes.

Paramount's latest offer enhanced its earlier $30-a-share bid, valued at $108 billion,
said a person familiar with the process who was not authorized to comment publicly.

Details of the revised proposal, first reported by Bloomberg, were not immediately available.

The firm is leveraging both the dynastic wealth of #Larry #Ellison’s empire
and his ties to the Trump administration
to dismantle Netflix’s rival $82.7-billion deal for Warner,
which owns CNN, HBO and the premier Hollywood film and television studios,
according to people close to the auction.

Over the weekend, President Trump turned up the heat,
demanding that Netflix "IMMEDIATELY" fire #Susan #Rice
— a former Obama and Biden administration official
— who serves on Netflix's 13-member board
or "pay the consequences."

Trump, in a Saturday night social media post, called the former ambassador
"deranged ... She’s got no talent or skills — Purely a political hack!”

Trump previously said he would not get involved in the pivotal Warner Bros. auction,
instead leaving the matter to the Department of Justice,
which is investigating whether a Netflix takeover,
or Paramount's alternative bid,
would harm competition.

Trump has been an outspoken critic of CNN and many of its on-air hosts.

Netflix won the bidding for the storied studio and HBO in December,
prompting the spurned Paramount executives to launch a multipronged strategy to scuttle the Netflix deal.

Netflix co-Chief Executive #Ted #Sarandos sought to downplay the latest controversy, saying during a BBC interview Monday:
"This is a business deal, it's not a political deal."

But Paramount, which declined to comment for this article, has not been shy about playing its political cards.

https://www.aol.com/articles/politics-center-stage-paramount-submits-011031325.html

Politics take center stage as Paramount submits new offer for Warner Bros. Discovery

Over the weekend, President Trump threatened Netflix, telling the streamer to fire Susan Rice from its board or "pay the consequences."

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Paramount, overseen by Larry Ellison's son, David,
is trying to convince Justice Department regulators and Warner Bros. shareholders that
the Netflix deal is too dicey
and that they should instead side with Paramount,
said sources who were not authorized to comment publicly.

Paramount has attempted numerous maneuvers to gain the upper hand.

"This deal was never going to be decided on the merits of the offer or rigid antitrust considerations,"
said Gabriel Kahn,
a professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

⚠️"This was a classic Trump administration deal where proximity to the president counts a lot more than financial terms."

Trump's Saturday night outburst came after Susan Rice, during a podcast interview last week, said that
“it is not going to end well” for corporations, media outlets
and law firms that
“bent the knee” to Trump should Democrats regain control in Washington.

The comments of Rice,
a Netflix director for eight years,
came as Paramount-owned CBS was involved in a headline-grabbing dust-up with late-night talk-show host,
Stephen Colbert,
over Trump's Federal Communications Commission chair's threat to modify a rule requiring that broadcasters to give political candidates equal time.

Colbert has accused his company of kowtowing to Trump, which CBS has denied.

Netflix's Sarandos and Paramount's David Ellison have made separate treks to the White House.

In October, Paramount hired a former Trump administration official,
Makan Delrahim,
who oversaw the Justice Department's antitrust division during Trump's first term,
to quarterback Paramount's campaign to win over regulators and politicians.

A formidable ally
— Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)
— recently visited Delrahim on Paramount's Melrose Avenue lot in Los Angeles.

While there, Cruz said he was a fan of the CBS show "NCIS," which prompted Paramount executives to put together an impromptu tour of the "NCIS Origins" soundstages,
according to a person familiar with the visit.

#LarryEllison #SusanRice #TedSarandos
#StephenColbert