2026-02-19 19:48
publication
2026-02-19 19:48
Netflix has large cash reserves and enough resources to outbid Paramount Skydance to buy Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), if the company competing for this acquisition offers a higher price – Reuters reported, citing two people familiar with the details of trade negotiations.
Netflix and WBD declined to comment on this information.
The WBD Management Board has convened a general meeting of shareholders on Friday, during which a vote on Netflix's offer will take place. Despite this, the company gave Paramount Skydance a chance to beat this offer and seven days to talk and present the final terms of the transaction – recalled Reuters.
The American Prospect magazine reports on its website that the WBD supervisory board is not convinced that these talks will prove fruitful, including: because Paramount would have to take out very large, risky loans to finance the transaction on Warner's terms.
According to Reuters, WBD expects Paramount to offer a price above $31 per share. Last year, Warner rejected the company's $108 billion offer in favor of Netflix, which intends to buy only the streaming service and studios for $83 billion. Paramount promised that if negotiations resume, it will allocate a higher sum to purchase WBD.
WBD's agreement with Netflix stipulates that Warner may enter into talks with another company interested in acquiring it if it considers that this may lead to a “reasonably higher offer.” On Tuesday, the WBD management board informed that for now it does not believe that Paramount's proposal meets these criteria – says a statement from the WBD management board, quoted by AFP.
Paramount last week submitted an improved proposal to purchase the entire company, which includes, among other things: covering a USD 2.8 billion penalty for terminating the contract with Netflix, supporting the refinancing of the company's debt and paying compensation to shareholders if the takeover process is not completed by the end of the year.
Paramount wants to acquire all of WBD, while Netflix is offering to buy only the part of the company responsible for streaming platforms and film studios, without WBD's television channels such as CNN, MTV, TNT and Poland's TVN. The price offered by Netflix is USD 27.75 per share. (PAP)
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