In an effort to sweeten the pot for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) shareholders, Netflix now offers cash for shares of the company, revising the cash-and-shares that have been struck with the previous WBD Board.
However, the streaming giant still offered the same $27.75 the company had agreed to for WBD’s movie studio and streaming assets, and the deal continues to value it at $82.7 billion.
The new offer serves to simplify the structure of the deal, the company said in a statement there, “provides more certainty than Value,” and shortens the timeline for shareholder voting. Netflix said it will finance the deal with cash, debt, and “committed financing.”
The change comes as competitor Paramount Skydance has stepped up its efforts to win over WBD’s shareholders all-cash, $30 per offer for all companies, including acquisitions $40 billion guarantee from CEO David Ellison’s billionaire father, Oracle founder Larry Ellison.
Paramount last week as well sued WBD for more information on Netflix’s offer and said it will nominate new members for Warner Bros.’ board, after WBD rejected its offer. The company also sought to expedite the lawsuit, but the court rejected that effort.
Netflix, for its part, has so far stuck with the original cash-and-share deal, enjoying the full support of the WBD board, which has steadfastly rejected Paramount’s offer. WBD has argued that selling to Netflix would be a better deal because the streaming giant has the capital to pay for it, and said the Paramount deal poses “more risk,” as it will. saddle the combined company with $87 billion in debt.
Warner Bros.
Techcrunch event
San Francisco
|
13-15 October 2026