Paramount Skydance offers $650M per quarter and to pay Netflix breakup fee in enhanced WBD bid
David Ellison's Paramount Skydance sweetened its $30-per-share hostile offer for Warner Bros. Discovery by adding a 25-cent-per-share quarterly ticking fee after Dec. 31, 2026 and pledging to cover Netflix's $2.8 billion breakup fee, while extending its tender to March 2, 2026.
- Paramount added 25 cents per WBD share per quarter after Dec. 31, 2026, equal to about $650 million per quarter, until a deal closes.
- Paramount said it will pay the $2.8 billion breakup fee owed to Netflix if WBD shareholders accept Paramount's full $30-per-share all-cash offer.
- Paramount will fully backstop and reimburse WBD's potential $1.5 billion financing cost tied to a bondholder debt exchange.
- The tender offer expiration was extended to March 2, 2026, and WBD expects a shareholder vote on the Netflix deal in late March or early April.
- WBD said it will review Paramount's new terms but for now continues to recommend the $27.75-per-share deal with Netflix.
- Paramount's amended bid has an enterprise value near $108 billion and is financed by $43.6 billion of equity commitments led by Larry Ellison and RedBird plus about $54 billion of debt, with a $43.3 billion personal guarantee from Larry Ellison.
- Paramount said it has complied with the DOJ second request and secured German clearance, arguing it has a clearer regulatory path than Netflix.