When you're trying to buy something and someone else swoops in with a better offer, sometimes you just need to open your wallet a little wider. That's exactly what Netflix Inc. (NFLX) is doing with its proposed $82.7 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD).
According to the Financial Times, Netflix is preparing to ditch the stock portion of its deal and go all-cash instead. The move is designed to give WBD shareholders a cleaner, faster transaction—and more importantly, to counter Paramount Skydance (PSKY)'s aggressive hostile bid. The revised terms are still being hammered out and could change, the report noted.
Netflix and WBD didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Bidding War Heats Up
Here's where things get interesting. Netflix's original December agreement valued WBD's studio and streaming assets at $27.75 per share, with $4.50 of that coming in Netflix stock. But Paramount, under the leadership of David Ellison, has thrown down $30 per share in cold hard cash for the entire company, including WBD's cable television division. Paramount has even threatened a proxy fight to shake up WBD's board if they don't play ball.
Paramount isn't just waving money around, either. The company has filed a lawsuit demanding financial transparency from WBD, arguing shareholders can't properly evaluate its offer without seeing the books. Ellison has publicly accused WBD's board of stonewalling and refusing to negotiate, though he insists he's open to "constructive discussions."
WBD, which owns HBO studios and has rejected Paramount's bid twice already, isn't making this easy. Almost immediately after Netflix announced its deal in early December, Paramount went directly to shareholders with its $108 billion bid for the entire company, including the cable division behind CNN.