Streaming company says proposal speeds up completion and allows WBD investors to vote as soon as April
Netflix has sweetened its $82.7bn (£61.5bn) offer for the studios and streaming businesses of Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) by making it an all-cash deal, streamlining its potential completion in the face of a hostile bid from Paramount Skydance.
The streaming company had originally secured the unanimous backing of the WBD board last month with a cash-and-shares proposal that valued the business at $27.75 a share.
The two companies said the switch to an all-cash offer – a plan first reported last week – at the same valuation as the original deal “simplifies the transaction structure, provides greater certainty of value for WBD stockholders, and accelerates the path to a WBD stockholder vote”.
Netflix said the offer would enable WBD investors to vote on the proposed deal as soon as April. “Our revised all-cash agreement will enable an expedited timeline to a stockholder vote and provide greater financial certainty at $27.75 per share in cash, plus the value from the planned separation of Discovery Global,” said Ted Sarandos, the streamer’s co-chief executive.
