Netflix’s proposal values Warner Brothers’ studio and streaming networks, including HBO, at about $83bn, including its debt, compared with Paramount’s offer, which values the entire company at $108.4bn.
Boards of both Netflix and Warner Brothers said on Friday that they supported the Netflix purchase, which they said would proceed after a planned spin-off of other parts of Warner Brothers’ business into an independent company.
But Mr Ellison, who had hoped to bolster Paramount’s own traditional television networks with those owned by Warner Brothers, said he thought an independent spin-off of those networks would set them up to fail and ultimately prove a mistake for shareholders.
“I think [its shares are] going to be worth a lot less than people are claiming,” he said.
