On this episode of Stock Movers:
- Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) shares rallied in trading today after word that Larry Ellison is throwing his personal fortune behind Paramount Skydance Corp.’s bid for it, aiming to give his son’s company an advantage in a fiercely contested takeover battle with Netflix. Paramount has been aggressively pursuing Warner Bros. for months and Ellison was taken by surprise when the board agreed to a deal with Netflix for $82.7 billion for the streaming and studio assets. The strength of the financing for each bid has emerged as a decisive issue in the takeover battle, which unleashed two massive debt-fueled offers that rank among the largest in the past decade. Paramount took its offer of $30 a share, or $108.4 billion including debt, for the entire company directly to shareholders. Warner Bros. shares gained 3.4% in New York afternoon trading, and changed hands during the session for as much as $28.98. Paramount rose as much as 8.1% while Netflix dropped about 1%.
- First Solar (FSLR) rose as much as 7.1%, touching the highest intraday since June 2024, after news Alphabet will buy clean-energy developer Intersect Power in one of the company’s biggest deals aimed at boosting its AI-related data-center footprint. The stock was the top S&P 500 gainer with less than 10 minutes to the close. Other solar names with gains in Monday trading included: Canadian Solar up as much as 15%; Array Technologies rises as much as 10%; Nextpower +7.7%.
- Clearwater Analysts (CWAN) shares are up 8.5% on Monday, after a group of private equity firms agreed to buy the investment and accounting software company in a deal valuing it at $8.4 billion. Analysts said the deal price was lower than expected.