Feb 13 (Reuters) – Paramount Skydance has named Rene Augustine, a former Trump administration lawyer, as its senior vice chairman of worldwide public coverage, in response to an organization memo seen by Reuters, amid an ongoing takeover battle for Warner Bros Discovery.
Augustine, who served within the Trump administration as a particular assistant to the president and senior affiliate counsel within the workplace of White Home Counsel, will be part of Paramount Skydance on February 17, reporting to Chief Authorized Officer Makan Delrahim.
“In her position, Rene shall be answerable for growing strategic insurance policies that advance our enterprise goals and constructing key diplomatic relationships which can be vital for advancing these goals globally,” Delrahim mentioned within the memo.
Delrahim, additionally a former senior U.S. antitrust official, beforehand labored with Augustine at the Division of Justice, the Senate and the White Home.
Augustine has served as deputy assistant lawyer basic within the antitrust division of the Justice Division from 2019 to 2021.
Paramount and Netflix are locked in a battle for Warner Bros.
This week, Paramount sweetened its bid by providing Warner Bros traders about $650 million in further money for every quarter the deal fails to shut after this yr and agreeing to cowl the $2.8 billion breakup payment the HBO proprietor would owe Netflix if it walked away.
Netflix has supplied to pay Warner Bros shareholders $27.75 per share in money for the movie and tv studios, the intensive library and its HBO Max streaming service, as a substitute of a combination of money and inventory.
(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico Metropolis; Modifying by Alan Barona)
