Netflix walks away from Warner Bros bid

Netflix has declined to raise its offer for Warner Bros after Warner Bros Discovery informed the video streamer that Paramount Skydance’s latest proposal qualifies as a Superior Proposal under the terms of its existing merger agreement with Netflix.

In a joint statement, Netflix co-chief executive officers Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said the company would not match the revised bid.

“The transaction we negotiated would have created shareholder value with a clear path to regulatory approval. However, we have always been disciplined, and at the price required to match Paramount Skydance’s latest offer, the deal is no longer financially attractive, so we are declining to match the Paramount Skydance bid,” the statement said.

It described Warner Bros as a world class organisation and thanked David Zaslav, Gunnar Wiedenfels, Bruce Campbell, Brad Singer and the Warner Bros Discovery board for what they called a fair and rigorous process.

The statement added that Netflix would have been strong stewards of Warner Bros’ iconic brands and that the proposed deal would have strengthened the entertainment industry while preserving and creating production jobs in the United States. However, they stressed that the transaction was “a nice to have at the right price, not a must have at any price”.

Netflix said its core business remains healthy and is growing organically, driven by its content slate and streaming service. The company plans to invest approximately $20 billion this year in films and series and expand its entertainment offering.