David Faber (Anchor) 00:00.070
all right great yeah you can see him right here sam thanks for coming down thank
Samuel Di Piazza, Jr. (Board Chair) 00:04.190
you david piazza is
David Faber (Anchor) 00:05.590
the chairman of warner brothers of course leads the board of directors we're going through the filing right now it's quite voluminous it is but we were taught and i i guess i want to start on on really what is becky 's question as well which is around this financing question if
David Faber (Anchor) 00:21.910
i could term it that way that the board had can you explain why you would not trust that one of the richest men in the world would not be there when asked to provide the financing for the deal well
Samuel Di Piazza, Jr. (Board Chair) 00:36.920
first again thank you for for having us here to tell our story and let's begin with the fact that netflix made a compelling offer it was heavy in cash certainty of clothes a high termination fee it had all and they responded to the to the operating issues that we we're concerned
Samuel Di Piazza, Jr. (Board Chair) 00:58.390
about peace guy had every opportunity to deal with that broad range of issues and they chose not to and ultimately the equity stack is always important here and to be very direct nowhere in any of these proposals did larry ellison guarantee
David Faber (Anchor) 01:20.110
and and that could have potentially changed the board 's decision well
Samuel Di Piazza, Jr. (Board Chair) 01:23.830
obviously the ability to deal directly with larry if there was an issue to close would be critical otherwise closing might not happen and some of the proposals and you've read them now some of the proposals gave multiple ways for that equity stack to disappear now he guaranteed
Samuel Di Piazza, Jr. (Board Chair) 01:45.990
it through an irrevocable trust at the last minute and frankly that wasn't as good as an investment grade company that purported strong value great response to our concerns of what it took to operate so this is i have enormous respect as does the board for the ellison family and
Samuel Di Piazza, Jr. (Board Chair) 02:09.550
for the paramount company they just didn't measure up on these bids because
David Faber (Anchor) 02:14.510
you know when many investors look at it and obviously i've talked to many of them as you might imagine they
Samuel Di Piazza, Jr. (Board Chair) 02:21.350
they
David Faber (Anchor) 02:21.590
don't see it the same way i'm sure you're hearing from them to to a certain extent they see it as wait a second i got thirty bucks a share in cash from one of the richest men in the world he's saying he backstops it the financing on the bank side seems to be there be there i
David Faber (Anchor) 02:36.990
think it was wells fargo apollo and thirty bucks to share with what they feel is more certainty around antitrust that it is a quicker and easier approval process and they simply say again and well wait you're talking about what the possibility that he's gonna empty his trust at
David Faber (Anchor) 02:55.790
some point and run away from this i mean they don't quite follow
Samuel Di Piazza, Jr. (Board Chair) 02:59.790
well our shareholders are thrilled at this point
David Faber (Anchor) 03:04.110
well they have to be very happy we're looking at by the way take a look at that sam that'll make you happy too that chart yeah no doubt although before they came before paramount came nobody was happy but
Samuel Di Piazza, Jr. (Board Chair) 03:13.710
we've been at this journey for three and a half years delivering the company and we knew there had to be change that's why we announced the spent and so when paramount showed up it became an active process what is said on your show you had david ellison here what's that there
Samuel Di Piazza, Jr. (Board Chair) 03:34.560
what's said in the wall street journal are nice to hear what's important is what's on the paper and now i think given our release this morning our investors can look and see why did we decide that we were not confident that one of the richest people in the world would be there
Samuel Di Piazza, Jr. (Board Chair) 03:52.000
at closing and doing a deal is great closing a deal is better