Netflix Reportedly Wins Warner Bros Discovery Bidding War & Enters Exclusive Deal Talks for Potential WBD Purchase

As noted before, Paramount Skydance Corporation has been in the process of preparing a major bid to potentially acquire Warner Bros Discovery, current media broadcast partner of AEW. Besides Paramount, Netflix and Comcast are among the interested parties for a potential purchase of WBD and all three had submitted bids this past November.

The Wrap reported that their sources stated that Netflix recently won the bidding war to potentially acquire WBD and will be entering exclusive talks to finalize a potential deal.

Two sources familiar with the talks reportedly stated that WBD has selected Netflix after they had submitting the winning bid that offered $30 per share for the company and streaming assets. Those same sources reportedly also stated that Netflix’s deal also includes a $5 billion break-up fee to match the terms that Paramount had added with its bid.

In regards to Paramount’s offer, it was reported that Paramount “could take its own offer to shareholders, although the amount of its third-round bid is unclear. But even if it doesn’t match Netflix’s offer, it could lean on the selling point that it could close a deal faster than the expected longer grind that the streaming giant would undergo.”

It was reported that Netflix’s attempted purchase of WBD is expected to face stiff antitrust scrutiny and opposition from the U.S. Department of Justice as a major hurdle for regulatory approval for the potential acquisition deal.

Netflix is the current home of WWE’s WWE RAW series in the United States and all of WWE’s programming internationally.