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Good morning and welcome back to FirstFT Asia. In today’s newsletter:
Warner Bros to rebuff Paramount’s hostile bid
Global brands seek PE partners in China
Emmanuel Macron’s op-ed on EU-China relations
We start with the takeover battle for Warner Bros Discovery, which is planning to recommend to its shareholders that they reject Paramount’s $108bn hostile bid.
What to know: WBD was close to finalising a response to Paramount’s tender offer after the business run by David Ellison went directly to shareholders last week with its all-cash $30-per-share takeover offer, after losing out to Netflix in an auction for the studio and streaming company. WBD is scrutinising assurances that Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, the father of the Paramount chief, will backstop the deal.
In a further twist yesterday, Jared Kushner’s investment firm Affinity Partners, which had been backing the Paramount offer, pulled out.
Not the final offer? WBD investors who have spoken with the company’s senior management said that WBD was confident in Netflix’s proposal but remained open to a new Paramount offer that addressed their funding concerns and raised the bid. Paramount has accused WBD’s board of not appropriately replying to its last offer, which also stated that it was not “best and final”, indicating that the Ellisons are willing to pay more for the company. Read the full story.
Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:
Five more top stories
1. The alleged perpetrators of Sunday’s terror attack on a Jewish event in Sydney were inspired by Isis and had travelled to the Philippines last month for military training, according to Australian authorities. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a press conference that there was evidence the attack was “inspired” by Isis.
2. Global companies are hunting for private equity partners in China to help save their local operations as they grapple with an increasingly competitive local market, a sluggish economy and volatile US-China relations. Here are the brands weighing options for their China operations, including selling parts or all of their businesses.
3. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said Trump has an “alcoholic’s personality” in an explosive interview with Vanity Fair magazine that was published yesterday and contained unusually biting critiques of key figures in the administration. Read the full story.
4. Citadel’s chief executive Ken Griffin has called for Donald Trump to create “distance” between the Federal Reserve and the White House, highlighting investor angst that the US president will pick a close ally to chair the central bank. Griffin’s comments come as the race to nominate a Fed chair to replace Jay Powell next May has reached its climax.
US economy: The US unemployment rate rose to 4.6 per cent in November, the highest level in more than four years.
5. Oil prices settled at their lowest level in almost five years yesterday after Trump signalled progress on Ukraine peace talks, raising the spectre of more crude on an oversupplied market. The price of Brent crude settled nearly 3 per cent lower at $58.92 a barrel, its lowest level since February 2021 during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Big Read
© FT montage/Getty Images/PA/AP
How does diplomacy work in Trump’s Washington? Rather than use the traditional channels of foreign policy, governments are dealing with the handful of envoys who appear to have the president’s ear.
We’re also reading . . .
US-China relations under Trump: Xi Jinping has profited simply by waiting for strategic gifts to come his way, writes Edward Luce.
Emmanuel Macron: Resolving serious trade imbalances will require co-operation and co-ordinated action from the EU and China, the French president writes.
Football: Paris Saint-Germain has been ordered to pay more than €60mn to Kylian Mbappé following an acrimonious dispute between the Qatar-owned football club and its former star player.
Chart of the day
Shares in Chinese makers of batteries, transformers and other equipment vital for the global build-out of AI have rocketed this year, as power-hungry data centres rush to secure alternatives to overstretched legacy grids. Chinese companies such as CATL, the world’s largest battery maker, are earning big margins on export sales despite US tariffs.
Take a break from the news . . .
The year in gaming delivered thrills, breathtaking scenery and a hysterical walking simulator. Tom Faber lists the 10 best video games of 2025.
