Netflix has revised its $82.7bn (£61.5bn) offer for Warner Bros Discovery into an all-cash deal, aiming to speed up approval and block a hostile bid from Paramount Skydance.
The offer keeps the valuation at $27.75 per share but removes shares from the structure, giving WBD investors more certainty and enabling a possible shareholder vote as early as April. Netflix said the WBD board continues to unanimously back the deal.
WBD shareholders would also receive shares in a separate global networks business, including CNN and Discovery Channel, which Netflix is not acquiring.
Paramount is pursuing a larger $108.4bn takeover and has launched a proxy fight to overturn the Netflix-backed agreement, but a recent lawsuit challenging the deal was rejected by a Delaware judge.
If WBD walked away from Netflix’s offer, it would owe a $2.8bn breakup fee and face billions more in additional costs, according to the company.
