Warner Bros Discovery is planning to recommend to its shareholders as soon as Wednesday that they reject Paramount’s $108bn hostile bid, with the Hollywood group scrutinising assurances that Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison will backstop the deal.

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, said people familiar with the matter.

WBD is expected to outline four central criticisms of Paramount’s offer in its filing, which argues that its value, financing and terms are deficient compared with Netflix’s deal agreed earlier this month.