Paramount sweetens bid for Warner Bros

(Sharecast News) - Paramount has improved its $108bn bid for Warner Bros Discovery, offering a fee to shareholders as compensation if regulators delay completion of the deal.

In a regulatory filing on Tuesday, the media company also agreed to cover the $2.8bn breakup fee the HBO owner would owe Netflix if it walked away from their deal.

The 25 cent-a-share "ticking fee" is worth $650m in cash each quarter between January 1, 2027, and the completion of the Paramount deal, Paramount.

Paramount launched its hostile offer in an attempt to trump Netflix's agreed $83bn deal with Warner Bros for its studio and streaming assets.

Netflix last month altered its for WBD's studios and streaming divisions, converting the bid to an all-cash deal in an attempt to head off Paramount.

The streaming service company had originally tabled a cash-and-shares bid - backed by WBD - valuing the business at $27.75 a share.

Both companies said the switch "simplifies the transaction structure, provides greater certainty of value for WBD stockholders, and accelerates the path to a WBD stockholder vote".

Netflix said the offer would enable WBD investors to vote on the proposed deal as soon as April. Its deal is for assets such as Warner Bros, the studio behind franchises including Harry Potter, Superman and Batman, and HBO, home to shows including Game of Thrones, The White Lotus and Succession.

WBD also said it was making changes to parts of the business not involved in the sale. The broadcaster is spinning off traditional TV channels like CNN and TNT and its cable business into a separate publicly traded company.

Paramount has argued that the new unit would be worthless and believes its $108bn proposal to buy WBD in its entirety is a better deal for shareholders. The WBD board has twice rebuffed the rival offer.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com