Shareholders of the American film company Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. overwhelmingly approved Paramount's takeover of Skydance Corp., despite widespread opposition to the deal in Hollywood. Bloomberg writes about this on April 23.
In February, Paramount agreed to acquire Warner Bros. for $110 billion, beating Netflix Inc. after months of struggle to purchase. Upon completion of the transaction, shareholders will receive $31 in cash for each share of Warner Bros. common stock they own. The deal is still subject to antitrust review in several jurisdictions, including the US and EU.
Shareholders also voted against the compensation package for CEO David Zaslav. The package proposed for voting provides for the accelerated provision of shares worth more than $500 million, which has been called one of the most expensive “golden parachutes” (large monetary compensation paid to top managers or members of the board of directors upon early dismissal).
Actors, writers, directors and others in Hollywood oppose the merger with Paramount, citing concerns about job losses, increased production costs and fewer choices of movies and TV shows for audiences. More than 4,000 people signed an open letter against the merger earlier this month. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., wrote on social media after the vote that the deal was not yet finalized.
If regulators block the deal, Paramount will have to pay $7 billion in termination fees. Paramount has already paid Netflix $2.8 billion in termination fees on behalf of Warner Bros. after the media company backed out of a deal with the streaming service.
