Netflix has revised its $82.7bn (£61.5bn) takeover bid for Warner Bros Discovery, switching to an all-cash offer to speed up approval and block a hostile rival bid from Paramount Skydance.
The offer keeps the same valuation of $27.75 per share but removes shares from the deal, giving WBD investors greater certainty and allowing a shareholder vote as early as April. The WBD board continues to unanimously back Netflix’s proposal.
Under the deal, WBD shareholders would also receive shares in a spun-off global networks business, including CNN and Discovery, which Netflix is not acquiring. Paramount is pressing ahead with its own $108.4bn hostile bid and is seeking to challenge the Netflix agreement through a proxy fight, after a lawsuit was rejected by a Delaware judge.
If WBD walked away from Netflix’s deal, it would owe a $2.8bn breakup fee and face billions more in related costs. Netflix’s bid would give it control of Warner Bros studios and HBO, strengthening its position in global entertainment.
