Netflix Switches To All-Cash $27.75 Bid For Warner Bros

LEAD: Netflix Inc. filed an amended merger agreement on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, converting its proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming assets into an all-cash offer of $27.75 per share and maintaining an $82.7 billion enterprise value, a move both companies announced in a joint regulatory filing and that the Warner Bros. Discovery board unanimously supported.

CONTEXT: The amendment follows Netflix’s Dec. 5, 2025 proposal of $23.25 in cash plus $4.50 in Netflix stock and comes amid a rival all-cash $30-per-share, roughly $108 billion offer from Paramount Skydance backed by a reported $40 billion guarantee from Oracle founder Larry Ellison and a Jan. 12 Delaware Chancery Court filing by Paramount seeking expedited disclosure that Judge Morgan Zurn rejected, according to company statements and court records.

RESPONSE: Samuel A. Di Piazza Jr., chair of the Warner Bros. Discovery board, said the amended agreement "provides greater certainty" and the board unanimously recommends the transaction, while Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said the all-cash structure will accelerate a shareholder vote and "deliver broader choice," and Paramount Skydance and CEO David Ellison continued buying WBD shares and declined to comment, according to joint statements and regulatory filings.

SCALE: The amended $27.75-per-share cash offer values the target at about $82.7 billion enterprise value including debt and replaces Netflix’s earlier $23.25 cash plus $4.50 stock structure, while Netflix had a market valuation near $402 billion versus Paramount Global’s $12.6 billion, the combined Netflix-Warner tie-up would carry roughly $85 billion of debt versus Paramount’s roughly $87 billion and Netflix shares have fallen about 15% since Dec. 5, 2025, market data and filings show.

FORWARD: Warner Bros. Discovery said it expects to schedule a special stockholder meeting by April 2026 to vote on the amended deal, which remains contingent on the planned Discovery Global separation, completion of committed financing and regulatory approvals and could take 12 to 18 months to close while Paramount’s Jan. 21 tender deadline, ongoing litigation and potential antitrust scrutiny could prolong the contest, according to company disclosures and court records.