For anyone who has been following the soap opera that unfolded between Netflix and Paramount Skydance over the past few months in their risky financial strategy to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, the saga may be coming to an end. Today, WBD said its board of directors has certain that Paramount Skydance’s latest offer amounted to the best proposal. The media team gave Netflix four business days to meet Paramount’s terms, but the streamer wasted no time in declining raise your own offer.
“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 production jobs in the U.S.,” said the statement from Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters. “But this transaction was always a ‘nice to have’ at the right price, not a ‘must have’ at any price.”
In addition to WBD’s $31 per share purchase price, Paramount’s latest offer also included a provision that would cover the $2.8 billion termination fee that WBD would owe Netflix for dissolving the existing merger agreement between the companies. So instead of paying $82.7 billion to acquire Warner Bros.’ share of the operation, it looks like Netflix could be left without new content but filling its coffers with nearly an additional $3 billion.
After Netflix’s initial offer, Paramount Skydance swooped in with a hostile takeover attempt of the entire Warner Bros. Discovery business. WBD rejected it, Paramount tried again. In recent weeks there have been several additional volleys between the parties involved. While WBD has yet to formally accept Paramount’s offer, which will be subject to lengthy regulatory approvals that are sure to cause more drama, it appears the dust will soon settle on this chapter.
