Paramount has cleared a 10-day waiting period after responding to a second request for information from the DOJ around its unsolicited offer for Warner Bros. Discovery.
The company said today that the expiration of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Act means “there is no statutory impediment in the U.S. to closing” the acquisition. Paramount, unusually, had moved on regulatory approvals without a deal in hand. WBD has agreed to a sale of its assets to Netflix.
Netflix is in the process of responding to the DOJ’s second request for information, which will be followed by a 30-day waiting period. Deadline understands that the waiting period for all-cash offers like Paramount’s is shorter.
Par has launched a hostile tender offer for $30 a share in cash for all of WBD. The Netflix deal is a mix of cash and stock pegged at $27.75 for Warner Bros. streaming and studio assets. WBD has repeatedly rejected the overtures of the David Ellison company but this past Tuesday the two began seven days of talks giving Paramount an opportunity to address the WBD board’s concerns over its latest offer. Most observers believe Paramount will need to pony up more cash.
Warner Bros. has set a March 20 date for shareholders to vote on the deal with Netflix and on setting the process of spinning out Discovery Global.
Along with the WBD stockholders and the DOJ, any deal with Netflix or Paramount would require clearances from regulators around the world. Both transactions have raised a host of questions and flurries of protest from lawmakers, unions and industry players.
More to come
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