Paramount Sweetens Offer For Warner Bros. Discovery

With Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery’s seven-day negotiating window expiring tonight, the David Ellison company has sweetened its bid from $30 a share, Deadline has confirmed.

The move, which has been expected, comes as Paramount attempts to pry Warner out of the arms of Netflix.

The amount of the increase, which was first reported by Bloomberg, couldn’t be ascertained.

The move was anticipated after Warner rebuffed a stream of unsolicited offers from Paramount that all stuck to the $30 while making concessions around the edges. WBD has had ongoing concerns about financing guarantees in what would be the biggest leveraged buyout in history. That’s a part of the current conversations.

Sources have told Deadline an official statement will come before the market opens Tuesday.

WBD had indicated in an SEC filing that Paramount was willing to go to $31 or higher and it expected to see that in writing during the talks, which are set to run through 11:59 p.m. ET tonight if not extended. Netflix has the right to match any offer. Wall Streeters have been pretty certain Paramount would boost its number to $31 or $32 a share but believe it might need to go a bit higher than that to secure the deal.

WBD’s signed $82.7 billion deal with Netflix is for $27.75 a share in cash for the Warner streaming and studio assets. Shareholders would also receive stock of WBD’s spun-off Discovery Global cable company, although it’s not clear what that will be worth.

Paramount declined comment. Reps from WBD and Netflix weren’t immediately available.

The talks came with the clock ticking down to a Warner special meeting of shareholders on Mach 20 to vote on the Netflix deal and moving ahead with the cable spinoff.

Paramount had launched a hostile tender offer, going directly to WBD shareholders over the board’s head. The latest deadline, which has been extended twice, is March 3.

Separately, Paramount will report fourth quarter earnings Wednesday followed by WBD on Thursday, with accompanying conference calls that are likely to be quite interesting,