Paramount improves WBD bid as deadline passes

Paramount has improved its bid for Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) just hours before the one-week negotiating window was due to expire on Monday night.

Heading into the talks, Paramount’s all-cash hostile offer stood at $30 per share in its $108.4bn bid for the entirety of WBD. Chief exec David Ellison and his team have made at least nine offers and details from the talks are expected on Tuesday.

The week-long window marked the first time the WBD board has officially engaged in talks with Paramount, after it accepted Netflix’s $82.7bn offer in December.

Both parties declined to comment on the reports, first revealed by Reuters, but WBD subsequently confirmed a ”a revised proposal” had been received.

No details were provided regarding the offer, which comes ahead of the companies’ earnings reports due later this week, but WBD did release a statement.

“Following engagement with [Paramount] during the seven-day limited waiver period, we received a revised [Paramount] proposal to acquire WBD, which we are reviewing in consultation with our financial and legal advisors,” it read.

“We will update our shareholders following the board’s review. The Netflix merger agreement remains in effect, and the board continues to recommend in favour of the Netflix transaction. WBD shareholders are advised not to take any action at this time with respect to the amended [Paramount] tender offer.”

Last month Netflix amended its $27.75 bid for Warner Bros’ streaming and studios business to an all-cash offer that will see WBD shareholders receive additional value of shares in the spin-off cable group Discovery Global that houses CNN.

On February 10 Paramount sweetened its bid to include a “ticking fee” payable to WBD shareholders to compensate for lag time in closing the deal, and said it would also cover the $2.8bn termination fee that WBD must pay Netflix were it to eventually go with the Paramount offer.

WBD shareholders will decide which offer to choose during a vote on March 20. The accepted offer is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions.

Donald Trump weighed into the matter indirectly over the weekend when he posted on Truth Social that Netflix should fire board member Susan Rice “or pay the consequences”.

This came after Rice, the former Biden administration UN ambassador, told the Stay Tuned With Preet podcast that elites” such as corporations, law firms, and parts of the media that “take a knee” to Trump could be “held accountable by those who come in opposition to Trump and win at the ballot box”. The US mid-terms take place in November.

Asked on BBC Radio 4’s Today show on Monday about Trump’s fiery outburst, Netflix co-chief exec Ted Sarandos said the WBD transaction was a business deal and not a political deal.

This story was updated to reflect WBD’s confirmation that it had received an offer from Paramount.

A version of the story first appeared on Broadcast International sister site, Screen