Paramount seeking to outbid Netflix in Warner Bros. deal

Paramount has criticized Netflix’s offer and said its own counterbid is worth up to $18 billion in cash more. The earlier Netflix offer had also been criticized by US President Trump.

Paramount says it is also offering to buy the cable assets of Warner Bros.Image: Mario Tama/Getty Images

US production company Paramount said on Monday that it was looking to challenge Netflix’s takeover of Warner Brothers Discovery with a hostile bid of its own.

Netflix reached a $72 billion (€62 billion) takeover deal with Warner Bros. on Friday but Paramount said it would be approaching shareholders with a bid worth around $108.4 billion.

The studio claims its offer for the entire Warner Bros. Discovery is better than Netflix’s, providing shareholders with $18 billion more in cash and a more straightforward regulatory approval process.

What’s more, unlike Netflix, Paramount says it is also offering to buy the cable assets of Warner Bros., and asking shareholders to reject the Netflix bid which it says is based on an “illusory prospective valuation” of those assets.

Paramount criticized the Netflix offer, saying it “exposes WBD shareholders to a protracted multi-jurisdictional regulatory clearance process with an uncertain outcome along with a complex and volatile mix of equity and cash.”

Paramount said it had submitted six proposals to WBD over a 12-week period.

“We believe our offer will create a stronger Hollywood. It is in the best interests of the creative community, consumers and the movie theater industry,” Paramount Chairman and CEO David Ellison said in a statement.

“We believe they will benefit from the enhanced competition, higher content spend and theatrical release output, and a greater number of movies in theaters as a result of our proposed transaction,” he added.