Netflix amends offer for Warner Bros. to all cash

Paramount has complained that its proposal was higher.

- BY MEG JAMES

NETFLIX has changed its $72-billion bid to acquire Warner Bros.' Burbank studios and HBO streaming operations to an all-cash offer.

(MYUNG J. CHUN Los Angeles Times)

Netflix has amended its proposed $72-billion purchase of Warner Bros. and HBO, converting it to an all-cash offer in hopes of defusing criticisms from its rival bidder, David Ellison’s Paramount.

Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery approved the change Monday, according to a regulatory filing. Warner board members previously had accepted Netflix’s $27.75-a-share cash-and-stock proposal for Warner’s Burbank studios and HBO streaming operations.

Paramount has complained that its $30-per-share offer for the entire company was higher, and thus, should be the winning bid. Paramount is appealing directly to Warner stockholders, asking them to sell their shares to Paramount by Wednesday.

Netflix stopped short of raising its bid above $27.75 a share, but the Los Gatos streaming giant agreed to pay the full amount in cash should it ultimately win Warner's legendary studios behind such blockbusters as “Batman,” “The Matrix” and “The Big Bang Theory.” Netflix is not interested in Warner Bros. basic cable channels, which are scheduled to be spun off into a separate company.

Netflix said the change “simplifies the transaction structure, provides greater certainty of value for WBD stockholders, and accelerates the path to a WBD stockholder vote.”