Paramount reportedly lifts bid for WBD, but details unclear

(Sharecast News) - Paramount Skydance has reportedly increased its bid for Warner Bros Discovery as it looks to derail an agreed takeover by Netflix. The report, by the Reuters news agency citing unnamed sources, did not specify how the bid had been changed. Paramount had tabled a $30-a-share offer worth $108bn, compared with Netflix's $83bn proposal.

Netflix gave WBD permission to talk to Paramount last week, with discussions resulting in a seven-day deadline for a revised offer to be made.

In the interim, US President Donald Trump waded into the bidding war over the weekend, ordering Netflix to remove the Democratic foreign policy expert Susan Rice from its board or "face the consequences".

If WBD agrees to Paramount's revised offer, it will have to pay a $2.8bn breakup fee to Netflix.

WBD in December agreed to sell both its film studio and HBO Max streaming service to Netflix for $27.75 per share. Paramount, which owns CBS and MTV, countered in December with its hostile all-cash deal for the entire company including the cable business.

However, this was rejected by WBD. Paramount earlier this month threw in a ticking fee of 25 cents a share to its offer for any delay in regulatory approval of the deal, which would add around $650m in cash value for every quarter the deal did not close by December 31.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com