Paramount’s $54 Billion Debt Plays a Starring Role in Warner Bid
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Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the worldAmericas+1 212 318 2000EMEA+44 20 7330 7500Asia Pacific+65 6212 1000Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the worldAmericas+1 212 318 2000EMEA+44 20 7330 7500Asia Pacific+65 6212 1000Warner Bros.:Paramount’s hostile offer is competing with a friendly one from Netflix Inc. that Warner’s board has already approved, so any further bidding could push the winning price — and Paramount’s debt — even higher.Even if Paramount Skydance Corp. manages to take over Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. against the company’s will, it faces another high hurdle: coping with the colossal $54 billion of debt it’s planning to take on.Paramount has a temporary financing package in place for the combined company, but it hasn’t locked in a maximum rate on more permanent borrowings for the transaction. The result could be the M&A world’s version of a big-budget Hollywood fiasco, with Paramount’s expenses spiraling beyond what it planned if debt markets sour and funding costs surge.