Following Paramount's latest improved takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix has withdrawn from the bidding war. Without a counteroffer from Netflix, Paramount is now likely to complete the takeover.
Netflix has pulled out of the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). The streaming service has announced that it will not be making any further increases to its offer. Warner Bros. Discovery had previously formally classified Paramount's new offer as 'superior'.
Paramount has increased its offer to $31 per share, up from $30. The total offer amounts to around $110 billion. Netflix had most recently offered just under $83 billion for the film studio and streaming business, excluding TV channels such as CNN. Paramount's proposal is for the acquisition of the entire Warner Bros. Discovery, this includes the Global Networks Segment, and Warner Bros. Games - with its studios in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Boston, New York, Montréal as well as Avalanche, Netherrealm Studios, Rocksteady and Tt games.
Netflix issued the following statement in response from co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters: "The transaction we negotiated would have created shareholder value with a clear path to regulatory approval. However, we've always been disciplined, and at the price required to match Paramount Skydance's latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive, so we are declining to match the Paramount Skydance bid."
David Ellison, Chairman and CEO of Paramount, said: "We are pleased WBD's Board has unanimously affirmed the superior value of our offer, which delivers to WBD shareholders superior value, certainty and speed to closing."
