By Aditya Soni and Akash Sriram
Feb 26 (Reuters) – Netflix on Thursday signaled it was backing away from its offer to buying Warner Bros Discovery’s streaming and studio assets, saying the deal was no longer financially attractive after Paramount Skydance revised its offer for the coveted Hollywood studio to $31-a-share offer.
Shares of Netflix rose around 10% in extended trading.
“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,” Netflix said in a statement.
Warner Bros Discovery said earlier in the day that Paramount’s revised $31-a-share offer was superior to its existing deal with Netflix.
Netflix had earlier this month granted Warner Bros a seven-day waiver to seek a “best and final offer” from Paramount for the company.
Netflix, which was looking to buy Warner Bros’ streaming and studio assets, agreed in December to a deal valued at $27.75 per share. The company had said its offer, along with a planned divestiture of Warner Bros’ cable assets, would deliver a greater shareholder value.
In its revised bid, Paramount raised the termination fee it would pay should the deal fail to gain regulatory approval to $7 billion from $5.8 billion.Â
Paramount said it welcomed Warner Bros board’s unanimous reaffirmation that its bid represents the stronger offer.
The Ellison Trust is committing $45.7 billion in equity, up from $43.6 billion previously, backed by Larry Ellison and including any additional funds needed to satisfy Paramount’s bank solvency requirements, the firm said.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi and Apollo are providing $57.5 billion in debt financing, increased from an earlier $54 billion commitment.
Activist investor Ancora Holdings, which owns a small stake in Warner Bros, has also stepped up pressure on the HBO owner by saying the company did not adequately engage with Paramount.
(Reporting by Aditya Soni, Akash Sriram, Jaspreet Singh and Sneha S K in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
