WBD issued a press release Tuesday announcing it will hold a special meeting of shareholders to vote on the merger with Netflix on March 20. Netflix granted WBD a seven-day waiver, permitting the company to provide Paramount Skydance the opportunity to make its best and final offer. An excerpt from the press release outlined the status of negotiations among all parties.
During this period, WBD will engage with PSKY to discuss the deficiencies that remain unresolved and clarify certain terms of PSKY’s proposed merger agreement. Netflix retains its matching rights as defined by the merger agreement.
The WBD Board of Directors (the “WBD Board”) continues to unanimously recommend in favor of the Netflix merger. The WBD Board also unanimously recommends that shareholders reject the PSKY offer, for the reasons set forth in the amendment to our Schedule 14D-9 filed today with the SEC.
It was announced in December that WBD agreed to a deal worth $82.7 billion for Netflix to acquire Warner Bros. This would split up the company, with the linear TV part of the business being spun off as Discovery Global. Paramount Skydance countered with an all-cash offer of $108.4 billion ($30 per share), attempting to make a full acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
WBD sent Paramount Skydance a revised offer of $31 per share in a letter, but noted it was not “PSKY’s best and final proposal.”
Netflix airs Monday Night Raw weekly and represents a large portion of WWE’s international media rights. A CNN article reported that WBD owns a minority stake in AEW and has a multi-year media rights agreement with it. TKO-owned UFC began its media rights agreement with Paramount this year.
