Paramount Skydance has increased its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) to $31 per share from $30 per share, WBD said today. Amid Netflix’s competing offer for WBD’s movie studio and streaming businesses, WBD said Paramount’s new bid “is expected to result in a ‘superior offer’ to the company.”
Under its revised proposal, Paramount would also pay a $7 billion regulatory termination fee that would arise if the Paramount-WBD merger fails to close due to antitrust regulation.
The David Ellison-owned company also said it would pay $0.25 per share for each day starting on September 30, instead of the previous start date of December 31.
Paramount had previously agreed to pay a $2.8 billion termination fee that WBD would have owed if it canceled its merger deal with Netflix.
Netflix has offered $27.75 per share for a small portion of WBD’s total business. Netflix wants to pay all cash for WBD’s film studio, intellectual property, streaming services including HBO and HBO Max, but not for any of WBD’s other cable channels.
WBD’s board has not decided whether Paramount’s revised offer is better than the one offered by Netflix. If the board takes this decision, Netflix will have four days to present a better proposal.
It is unclear whether Netflix would be willing to pay more for WBD’s streaming and movie businesses than it has already offered. The streaming giant has yet to comment on Paramount’s new offer, but on Friday, co-CEO Ted Sarandos told Variety that the people in charge of Netflix are “super-disciplined buyers.”
“We have such a reputation that I’m willing to walk away and pay more for things to someone else. We have a rich history of that,” he said.
Regardless of the ultimate buyer, any WBD merger would face intense regulatory scrutiny, drive up subscription prices and have a lasting impact on Hollywood.
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