LOS ANGELES, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- After Netflix announced on Thursday that it would not submit a higher offer for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), Paramount Skydance, which had recently submitted a new bid, successfully pulled ahead, taking the lead position in the race to acquire the Hollywood giant.
WBD announced on Thursday that its Board of Directors, following consultation with its independent financial and legal advisors, has determined that the previously disclosed proposal from Paramount Skydance constitutes a "Company Superior Proposal" as defined in WBD's merger agreement with Netflix.
As disclosed by WBD on Tuesday, Paramount Skydance's proposal includes a purchase price of 31.00 U.S. dollars per WBD share in cash, plus a daily ticking fee equal to 0.25 dollars per share per quarter beginning after Sept. 30, 2026, as well as a 7 billion dollars regulatory termination fee payable by Paramount Skydance in the event the transaction does not close due to regulatory matters.
Paramount Skydance's latest bid values WBD at about 111 billion dollars. Netflix, the world's largest streaming company by subscriber count, then announced it is pulling out of the contest.
"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," Netflix said in a statement in response from co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters.
Netflix sent shockwaves through Hollywood on Dec. 5 by announcing an 82.7 billion-dollar agreement to acquire WBD. Paramount Skydance has since launched a hostile bid, placing the merger at the center of a widening national debate.
Unlike the deal with Netflix, which covered WBD's film studio and streaming service and would spin off its cable division into a new publicly traded company, Paramount Skydance's offer is for the entirety of WBD. ■