The battle for Warner Bros. Discovery appears to be over. Netflix will not be increasing its bid to acquire the David Zaslav-led media giant after hearing from the board that Paramount Skydance’s new offer was deemed a “superior proposal.” Netflix’s decision was made surprisingly quickly, as the streamer/studio had until midnight ET on March 4 to proffer a new deal.
The news is even more surprising as Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos was in Washington DC earlier on Thursday attempting to lobby Trump administration officials on their deal, for which a merger agreement was already in place, against Paramount Skydance’s new $31 per share bid.
In a joint statement issued less than two hours after the WBD board’s decision, Sarandos and co-CEO Greg Peters said:
“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.
Warner Bros. is a world-class organization, and we want to thank David Zaslav, Gunnar Wiedenfels, Bruce Campbell, Brad Singer and the WBD Board for running a fair and rigorous process. We believe we would have been strong stewards of Warner Bros.’ iconic brands, and that our deal would have strengthened the entertainment industry and preserved and created more production jobs in the U.S. But this transaction was always a ‘nice to have’ at the right price, not a ‘must have’ at any price.
Netflix’s business is healthy, strong and growing organically, powered by our slate and best-in-class streaming service. This year, we’ll invest approximately $20 billion in quality films and series and will expand our entertaining offering. Consistent with our capital allocation policy, we’ll also resume our share repurchase program. We will continue to do what we’ve done for more than 20 years as a public company: delight our members, profitably grow our business, and drive long-term shareholder value.”
Netflix initially moved to pick up WBD’s TV, film and streaming businesses with a $82.7 billion/$72 billion equity deal late last year, and was swiftly followed by a $108.4 billion hostile bid from the recently merged Paramount Skydance. The higher price tag reflected the latter’s broader acquisition interests, which include WBD’s cable television properties, in addition to the studios, HBO brand and HBO Max streaming service
Warner Bros. Discovery was formed from WarnerMedia’s spin-off by AT&T and merger with Discovery Inc. in 2022. The costs of the merger led to a number of cuts, many affecting animation productions and the availability of library toon titles on WBD’s streaming service.
WBD’s streaming & studios business houses Warner Bros. Entertainment (Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, Warner Bros. Television Group — including Warner Bros. Animation, Cartoon Network Studios and Williams Street — and DC Studios), Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming (HBO Max, Warner Bros. Games, HBO and Cineamx) and Warner Bros. Discovery Global Experiences (theme parks, studio tours, distribution), and more. The company’s linear networks include Cartoon Network/Adult Swim and the late classic cartoon outlet Boomerang, which was shut down as a standalone service in late 2024.
[Source: Variety]
