Paramount wins Warner Bros deal as Netflix walks away

Paramount Skydance has finally prevailed in its ongoing bid to acquire Warner Bros Discovery in its entirety, after Netflix dropped out of the race, despite having already secured a deal to buy its studios and streaming properties.

Paramount’s new $31-a-share offer (A$43.6) to buy the company was dubbed a “superior proposal” to Netflix’s agreement by the WBD board. Netflix has declined to increase its original offer, and will instead walk away.

Paramount’s tenth bid over a five-month period was for $111b (A$156b) for the entire company, including its linear cable channels, while Netflix’s offer for just the movie studios and HBO valued those entities at $83b.