The board of Warner Bros. Discovery on Wednesday said it was recommending that shareholders reject the hostile takeover bid from Paramount Skydance and its controlling shareholders, the Ellison family.
The company’s board said in a statement that it determined the Paramount Skydance offer “is not in the best interests of WBD and its shareholders.”
The Warner Bros. board’s recommendation to shareholders effectively means Paramount’s offer is dead. Paramount could, however, return with a higher offer.
Yeah, I’m pretty certain the whole “board not approving” thing is one of the main things that makes it a hostile takeover?
What I’ve seen in the past is that the board will disapprove of the takeover, and the other company will acquire enough shares to have enough sway to vote on members of the board. New board members (and old board members once they’ve made their own deals to get what they want out of whatever restructuring is planned) approve of the takeover bid and basically force the remaining shareholders into accepting the terms.
I’m definitely not the most knowledgeable person about such matters, though, others may have a better explanation.