Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders have approved the company’s merger with Paramount Skydance in a preliminary vote on Thursday, moving the sale process closer to completion. Paramount offered $31 per share for Warner Bros. Discovery, including its cable TV networks, streaming service HBO Max, and the Warner Bros. film studio. This offer came after a bidding war with Netflix and Comcast. In late February, Paramount’s increased offer led Netflix to withdraw from its own proposed deal with WBD. The deal includes a $7 billion breakup fee if the merger falls through, along with agreeing to pay the $2.8 billion fee owed to Netflix by WBD. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter, pending regulatory approval. Despite strong shareholder support for the deal, payouts to WBD’s executives, including CEO David Zaslav, were not approved by shareholders. However, these payments will still proceed as the vote was non-binding. The more than $800 million payout to Zaslav has raised concerns about a tax rule designed to limit CEO compensation.
