Netflix has walked away from its interest in acquiring parts of Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) after that company determined a competing bid from Paramount Global was “superior.”
In a statement Thursday afternoon, Netflix said its interest in acquiring some of WBD was “no longer financially attractive.” The move comes after Netflix gave WBD a few days to evaluate Paramount’s counter-offer, which valued the company at $31 per share and involves acquiring all assets, including its cable networks business.
Paramount’s offer also includes a $7 billion break-up fee payable to WBD if the companies are unable to secure regulatory approvals for a transaction or the deal falls through in another way.
WBD has not yet affirmed it acceptance of Paramount’s offer. Earlier, WBD’s Board said it was still committed to Netflix’s deal while giving the company four days to sweeten its offer in light of what Paramount was willing to pay.
For months, both companies have engaged in a bidding war for WBD, which earlier sought to spin out its cable networks business in order to focus on more-lucrative assets.
Netflix’s offer would have required WBD to move forward with spinning out its cable networks, while Paramount would have absorbed channels like CNN, TNT, Cartoon Network and Animal Planet as part of its offer.
