As Paramount continued to lob offers for Warner Bros. Discovery that continued to be rejected, all at $30 a share in cash, the big question from Wall Street to Hollywood has been why not raise the bid.
It seems that may happen as WBD said Tuesday that it is entering seven days of deal talks with the David Ellison-run company even as it continues to stand by its agreement with Netflix. Warner says that the Ellison camp had verbally agreed to boost its bid to $31 or higher if two the sides engaged, which WBD today has agreed to do.
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“On February 11th, a senior representative of your financial advisor communicated orally to a member of our Board that PSKY would agree to pay $31 per WBD share if we engage with you, and that $31 is not PSKY’s best and final proposal,” WBD’s board said in a letter to Paramount it released today.
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“We are writing to inform you that Netflix has agreed to provide WBD a waiver of certain terms of the Netflix merger agreement to permit us, through February 23, to engage with PSKY to clarify your proposal, which we understand will include a WBD per share price higher than $31. We seek your best and final proposal.
“To be clear, our Board has not determined that your proposal is reasonably likely to result in a transaction that is superior to the Netflix merger. We continue to recommend and remain fully committed to our transaction with Netflix and have scheduled a special meeting of our shareholders on March 20, 2026 to vote on the Netflix merger agreement.”
The Netflix deal is for $27.75 a share all in cash, a bid that it sweetened recently from a mix of cash and stock. Its deal is for Warner Bros. Studios and streaming assets, while linear television under Discovery Global is to be spun off into a separate public company.
Paramount has launched an escalating series of hostile takeover offers for all of WBD. It’s latest, on February 10, carried the same $30-a-share base price but also a handful of sweeteners and concessions that put pressure on Warner to take a closer look. A number of WBD shareholders were also pushing the David Zaslav-led company in that direction.
Netflix has matching rights.
The giant streamer said today that, “While we are confident that our transaction provides superior value and certainty, we recognize the ongoing distraction for WBD stockholders and the broader entertainment industry caused by PSKY’s antics. Accordingly, we granted WBD a narrow seven-day waiver of certain obligations under our merger agreement to allow them to engage with PSKY to fully and finally resolve this matter.”
Netflix is reaching the point where they can take the break up fee and the debt they would have taken on and just go get a ton of first look deals and develop new fresh content and franchises.
Let this legacy company deal with debt management and annual interest expenses in the billions.
Well if netflix win I get rid of it .cause I like buying blu ray I don’t want watch them on tv .they will ruin everything .who he’ll want to watch afilmrheynever own
So they will talk to Paramount, which will drive up the Netflix offer, which will then likely still be the deal they go with.
Do not let paramount by Warner brothers discovery!
I think few reason is one paramount sent The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender to paramount+ instead of theaters release. We know The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender could be a theaters release but paramount decided to skipped it theaters release to paramount+. Paramount is only skipping movies theaters release but I think Netflix is better to own Warner brothers discovery. If paramount own Warner brothers discovery and few of their movies ended up skipping theaters release just like they did with The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender.
Paramount own Warner brothers discovery having few movies skipped theaters release.
Netflix own Warner brothers discovery having few movies having a theaters release.
I think Netflix is a better option to own Warner brothers discovery than paramount!
Nah Netflix will only do a season of the new IPs they’re getting then cancel it. Netflix is by far the worst company to get the new IPs. Also there’s been no Avatar: The Last Airbender animated movies it’s all been a tv series. So no the new animated movie wouldn’t be profitable having a theatrical release.
Netflix has only been in the rough and I think the Netflix deal is more appealing than what Ellison has
“You want to pay us more than what our company is worth and never recoup…sure…we will listen”. In the end, the investors will lose. Why would you overpay for something that is a dying market?