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Time Inc. rejects Paramount's takeover bid and moves to cement its Warner merger with an offer that could ultimately cost $14 billion

Steven Ross, 61, had been up late into the night helping to reassemble the pieces of the biggest deal of his life, but he was feeling particularly ebullient at noon the next day. As he met with reporters last Friday, the chairman of Warner Communications playfully handed out black-and-yellow Batman lapel pins, a promotional item for his studio's big summer film. Shunning a chair, the executive casually plopped himself down on the floor and began extolling the deal he hoped to see through. Said he: "There could not be a better fit in the world."

Ross was speaking of Time Inc....

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