Warner Bros. Discovery board asks shareholders to stick with Netflix deal, sets voting date

That being said, WBD is still obviously preferential to the Netflix offer at this point. The company’s board of directors said that it “continues to unanimously recommend in favor of the Netflix merger” and unanimously told shareholders that they should reject Paramount’s offer. Per the terms of the existing agreement, Netflix granted WBD seven days to discuss Paramount’s offer with the relevant parties; that window closes on February 23. WBD shareholders will meet and vote to approve the deal with Netflix on March 20. 

One potential additional wrinkle is still possible, however. Variety reports that if WBD agreed to the talks that they just agreed to, Paramount might be willing to up their “best and final” offer to $31 per share. This, at least, is in the letter that David Zaslav and WBD board chairman Samuel Di Piazza Jr. wrote in a letter sent to the Paramount Skydance board today. “We seek your best and final proposal,” the letter reads. “To be clear, our Board has not determined that your proposal is reasonably likely to result in a transaction that is superior to the Netflix merger.” If that happens, Variety reports that Netflix retains its right to offer another counter offer above its current $27.75 per share offer. Given that Netflix’s offer is already numerically below Paramount’s, one would think there are other reasons why WBD may not want to be in business with Paramount.