Paramount Skydance (PSKY) has raised its takeover bid for rival Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) to $31 U.S. per share, up from $30 U.S. per share previously.
The board of directors at Warner Bros. says it is reviewing the new offer from Paramount, which is competitive with an existing takeover bid from Netflix (NFLX).
Warner Bros. Discovery has a deal in place to sell its movie studio and streaming businesses to Netflix. However, Paramount has launched a hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros.
Parmount Skydance is seeking to buy all of Warner Bros. Discovery, including its specialty television channels that include CNN, TBS, and HGTV.
Warner Bros. had planned to spin-off the TV channels into a new publicly traded company under terms of its deal with Netflix.
The board at Warner Bros. says Paramount is now offering $31 U.S. per share in cash and a $7 billion U.S. break-up fee in the event the proposed merger doesn’t win regulatory approval.
Paramount has also agreed to pay a $2.8 billion U.S. break-up fee that Warner Bros. would owe Netflix if it were to abandon that deal.
“The Board has not made a determination as to whether the revised PSKY proposal is superior to the merger with Netflix,” said Warner Bros. in a news release.
If Warner Bros. deems the new Paramount offer to be superior, Netflix will have four days to improve its previously agreed-upon takeover offer.
Netflix had agreed to buy Warner Bros.’ movie studio and streaming assets for $27.75 U.S. per share, valuing the assets at $72 billion U.S. total.
Any deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery requires U.S. and European regulatory approval, and both deals have raised antitrust concerns.
The takeover battle has driven WBD stock 173% higher over the last 12 months to trade at $29.15 U.S. per share.
