Netflix has declined to increase its offer for Warner Bros. Discovery after the David Zaslav-led media company’s board declared Paramount Skydance’s new bid a “superior proposal.”
The swift response from Netflix comes as a shock to industry, as the streamer had four business days, or until Wednesday, March 4 at 11:59 p.m. ET, to come up with a new proposal to salvage the deal.
“The transaction we negotiated would have created shareholder value with a clear path to regulatory approval,” Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said in a joint statement issued Thursday, less than two hours after Warner Bros. Discovery revealed its board’s new decision. “However, we’ve 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. Warner Bros. is a world-class organization, and we want to thank David Zaslav, Gunnar Wiedenfels, Bruce Campbell, Brad Singer and the WBD Board for running a fair and rigorous process. We believe we would have been strong stewards of Warner Bros.’ iconic brands, and that our deal would have strengthened the entertainment industry and preserved and created more production jobs in the U.S. But this transaction was always a ‘nice to have’ at the right price, not a ‘must have’ at any price.”
The statement continued: “Netflix’s business is healthy, strong and growing organically, powered by our slate and best-in-class streaming service. This year, we’ll invest approximately $20 billion in quality films and series and will expand our entertaining offering. Consistent with our capital allocation policy, we’ll also resume our share repurchase program. We will continue to do what we’ve done for more than 20 years as a public company: delight our members, profitably grow our business, and drive long-term shareholder value.”
More to come…
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