Warner Bros. Discovery Finds Paramount Bid ‘Superior’ as Netflix Backs Down
Paramount Skydance appears poised to win its bidding war with Netflix to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery.
Thursday evening, Netflix abandoned its plan to acquire the activities of the HBO, HBO Max and Warner Bros. studios. The streaming giant said it “refused to increase its offer” after Paramount submitted a revised cash offer of $31 per share to buy all of WBD on Tuesday. WBD had reviewed the competing offer and announced that its board of directors deemed it “superior” to the Netflix deal.
Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said in a statement: “At the price required to match Paramount’s latest Skydance offering, the deal is no longer financially attractive.”
The statement continued: “We believe we would have been strong stewards of Warner Bros.” iconic brands, and that our deal would have strengthened the entertainment industry and preserved and created more manufacturing jobs in the United States.
However, according to Netflix, the deal was more of a “nice to have” than a “must have” at any price.
If approved, Paramount’s new offer would not only allow it to pay $31 per share in cash, but also pay a $2.8 billion termination fee that WBD would owe Netflix for walking away from its deal. Additionally, Paramount would also be responsible for paying “a daily fee equal to $0.25 per share per quarter beginning September 30, 2026,” according to WBD, and paying $7 billion if the deal fails to meet regulatory requirements.
Paramount’s deal is backed by money from Larry Ellison, the billionaire father of Paramount CEO David Ellison.
The proposed merger and acquisition between Netflix and WBD was initially announced on December 5 for $83 billion (shares and cash). The deal has since resulted in several takeover bids from Paramount, prompting Netflix to move to an all-cash deal in January, while Paramount engaged in trades to acquire all of Warner Bros. Discovery.
The announcement comes on the day of WBD’s fourth-quarter earnings call and the same day that Netflix’s Sarandos traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with officials about Paramount’s bid.
CNET’s Corinne Reichert also contributed to this report.
