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Warner Bros. Discovery has said Paramount Skydance’s $110 billion offer for the Hollywood studio is “superior” to its existing deal with Netflix, giving David Ellison’s media conglomerate the edge in a fierce takeover battle.
WBD said Thursday its board considered Paramount’s $31 per share offer as “a superior company proposition.” Netflix now has four business days to raise its bid or risk losing the deal it struck in December.
The decision by WBD’s board puts the media group run by Ellison and his father, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, in top position to succeed in its months-long effort to beat the Netflix deal.
It’s a surprising turnaround for Paramount, which first approached Warner Bros. with a proposed deal in October. But the Warner Bros. board rejected the idea, and rejected Paramount’s repeated offers.
Paramount’s offer includes a $0.25 per share fee for each quarter the deal does not close after the end of September next year, a guaranteed $7 billion break fee if not approved by regulators and an offer to cover a $2.8 billion termination fee owed to Netflix.
WBD said the Netflix deal would remain in effect until it could evaluate Netflix’s response after a four-day deliberation period.
Paramount’s offer for WBD is for the entire business, including CNN and other cable networks, which will spin off into a separate company if the Netflix deal moves forward.
Netflix did not respond to a request for comment.
This is a developing story
