Los Angeles.– Entertainment colossus Netflix is considering making an all-cash offer to acquire the rights to purchase Warner Bros., The Wall Street Journal reported this Tuesday.
This change would be intended to speed up the controversial acquisition offer that Netflix presented last December and whose initial agreement reached 82.7 billion dollars with a combination of cash, shares and debt.
Netflix’s offer of $27.75 per share includes $23.25 per share of WBD in cash and $4.50 in Netflix shares, in addition to a stake in the Discovery Global unit pending separation from the company.
The agreement sparked a wave of criticism, as well as a reaction from rival Paramount, which launched a hostile bid (takeover bid) on December 8 for a value of 108.4 billion dollars in exchange for its film studios, television and an extensive library of content including titles such as ‘Harry Potter’ or ‘Game of Thrones’.
The American media conglomerate fueled the bidding war of industry titans with a lawsuit filed yesterday against Warner to force the company to disclose how it is valuing its Discovery Global unit within the deal with Netflix, including the amount of debt that WBD will offload to Discovery Global.
These details are crucial to assess the total value for shareholders of the Netflix deal versus Paramount’s offer, Variety also highlights.
