A Paramount merger with Warner Bros would unite two major Hollywood studios, two streaming platforms and two news operations
The streaming giant’s co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said they were “declining to match” Paramount Skydance’s latest offer after Warner Bros. Discovery’s board declared it a “Superior Proposal” under the terms of its existing merger agreement with Netflix.
The development will likely see the storied Hollywood studio and a group of TV properties that includes CNN fall into the hands of Paramount, reshaping US media.
Without a Netflix counter-offer, the Warner Bros. Discovery board is now free to terminate its agreement with the streaming giant and proceed with Paramount.
The sweetened offer, made Monday, was the latest installment of a bidding war that has drawn White House attention, with US President Donald Trump insisting he had a say in the outcome.
The revised Paramount offer included a purchase price of US$31.00 per share in cash, a one-dollar increase from its earlier bid, which valued the company at around US$108 billion.
Paramount has also offered a US$7 billion regulatory termination fee should the deal fail to close on regulatory grounds, and agreed to cover the US$2.8 billion break-up fee Warner Bros. Discovery would owe Netflix if it walked away from their agreement.
