Greg Peters Lisa Lake/Getty Images Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment As the temperatures drop across the U.S., the battle between Netflix and Paramount for Warner Bros. is only heating up. The latest haymakers thrown come courtesy of executive interviews in The Financial Times. Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters had plenty to say about why his offer, the one that has actually been accepted (and reaffirmed), is superior to David Ellison's various attempts. For starters, Ellison's Paramount Skydance "already is saddled with quite a lot of debt," Peters said. An all-cash offer of $30 per share - what Ellison put on the table - would create a financing mess, Peters said. Knowing that narrative is out there, Ellison's father, Oracle founder Larry Ellison (net worth: $231 billion), announced that he will personally backstop the Paramount bid. Related Stories Movies Oscars: Warner Bros. Wows With 30 Nominations as Other Major Studios Snubbed Movies Clint Bentley Says Joel Edgerton Oscar Snub Makes 'Train Dreams' Best Picture Nod "Bittersweet" Wall Street (and the media) are awaiting an even bigger cash bid from Paramount. Peters says that wouldn't work out from a borrowing standpoint. "Without Larry Ellison independently financing this thing, there's no chance in hell Paramount would ever be able to pull this off," Peters said. "If they were to move [higher], what kind of leverage would they have to have?" he continued. "It's hard to imagine how that works out well." Gerry Cardinale, the founder of RedBird Capital, Paramount Skydance's second-largest shareholder (behind David Ellison), fired back at the assertions. "Our leverage is nowhere near what they're talking about," Cardinale said. "The Netflix deal is the Harry Houdini of deals." Houdini was known as the world's greatest escape artist, though Cardinale appears to be calling Netflix's $83 billion all-cash offer for the Warner Bros. studios and streaming (and linear HBO) businesses some sort of smoke and mirrors. Paramount's offer is $108 billion for the whole company, including the Discovery Global Linear Networks assets (and Discovery+). The Paramount bid "doesn't pass the sniff test in my mind," Peters said. "And that's what the Warner Brothers board determined. And I think that's where the Warner shareholders are at too." David Ellison was hoping a personal appeal to those Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) shareholders could change course. He asked shareholders to tender their holdings ahead of the company's next investor meeting - an attempt at a hostile takeover that hasn't quite worked out. As Peters pointed out, only a "very small" number of WBD shares had been tendered. As of Jan. 21, roughly 168.5 million shares of 2.45 billion had ben tendered, according to proxy filings. THR Newsletters Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day Subscribe Sign Up AMC Networks AMC Networks CFO Patrick O'Connell to Exit for New Job TikTok Adam Presser Named CEO of U.S.-Controlled TikTok JV as Board and Investors Revealed The Walt Disney Company Bob Iger's 2025 Pay Rises to $45.8 Million as Disney Board Reaffirms That Succession Is Imminent THR, Esq NYC Sues Dr. Phil's Son to Block Release of Pro-Cop Reality Show Universal Studios Gotta Catch Em All: Universal's Latest Theme Park IP Deal Will Bring Pokémon to Life Warner Bros. Discovery Paramount Kicks Off Proxy Fight Urging Warners Shareholders to Reject Netflix Deal, Extends Tender Deadline AMC Networks AMC Networks CFO Patrick O'Connell to Exit for New Job TikTok Adam Presser Named CEO of U.S.-Controlled TikTok JV as Board and Investors Revealed The Walt Disney Company Bob Iger's 2025 Pay Rises to $45.8 Million as Disney Board Reaffirms That Succession Is Imminent THR, Esq NYC Sues Dr. Phil's Son to Block Release of Pro-Cop Reality Show Universal Studios Gotta Catch Em All: Universal's Latest Theme Park IP Deal Will Bring Pokémon to Life Warner Bros. Discovery Paramount Kicks Off Proxy Fight Urging Warners Shareholders to Reject Netflix Deal, Extends Tender Deadline