Within minutes of Netflix announcing that it would not try to match the $31 per share Paramount offer, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) was out with an invite to Paramount CEO David Ellison: Testify before an already planned Senate hearing next week.
An aide to Booker, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary antitrust subcommittee, noted that Ellison had offered to appear were it to acquire WBD.
“In light of today’s announcement that Warner Bros. Discovery has designated Paramount’s offer a Company Superior Proposal, next week’s hearing presents a timely and appropriate opportunity for Mr. Ellison to make good on that commitment,” Booker’s aide said.
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT), the chair of the committee, already had scheduled a hearing for March 4, but it would have been centered on the Netflix-WB transaction, a month after co-CEO Ted Sarandos testified before the panel. Lee was highly critical of the Netflix-WB deal.
A Paramount spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
More to come.