Late last year, Netflix struck a deal with Warner Bros. to purchase most of the company’s assets for $82 billion. Now, Netflix has chosen to abandon that deal rather than match the higher offer made by Paramount. That paves the way for Paramount to become the new owner of Warner Bros. Discovery, pending stockholder and regulatory approval.
For the better part of two months, Warner Bros. refused to engage with Paramount, which briefly led the latter to file a lawsuit against the rival studio. Earlier this month, Netflix granted Warner Bros. a one-week period to reopen negotiations with Paramount. The Warner Bros. board subsequently decided that Paramount’s higher offer was the better deal, and Netflix declined to keep bidding.
“We believe we would have been strong stewards of Warner Bros.’ iconic brands, and that our deal would have strengthened the entertainment industry and preserved and created more production jobs in the US,” said Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters in a statement (via The Hollywood Reporter). But this transaction was always a ‘nice to have’ at the right price, not a ‘must have’ at any price.”
