Netflix and WBD say Netflix revised its WBD offer to an all-cash deal for $27.75/share, with the same $82.7B value; its original bid had $59B in debt financing

In an ongoing struggle over the future of Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix says it is now prepared to pay all cash for Warner Bros. and HBO …

CNN 2026-01-20 Brian Stelter

Context & Ripple Effects

Netflix's revised proposal follows its earlier agreement to acquire WBD's studios and streaming business in an $82.7B cash-and-stock transaction, tied to WBD's planned split. The revision keeps the stated value intact while changing how consideration is funded and delivered.

That makes the financing mix—not simply the headline valuation—the immediate issue for WBD shareholders and the deal's credibility.

First-order effects

Netflix replaces the prior debt-backed structure with an all-cash $27.75-per-share offer, while retaining the stated $82.7B value.
WBD must assess the revised proposal on cash certainty and execution terms rather than treating it as a higher nominal bid; shareholders receive a clearer form of consideration.

Second-order effects

Any rival interest in WBD now has a more explicit cash-per-share benchmark to beat or match, raising the importance of financing certainty in a competitive process.
Netflix's balance-sheet capacity becomes more central to scrutiny of the transaction, because the proposal no longer relies on the originally disclosed $59B in debt financing.

Third-order effects

If large media transactions increasingly compete on cash certainty, buyers with deeper internal funding capacity may gain an advantage over bidders dependent on leveraged structures.
The episode reflects consolidation pressure around premium studios and streaming assets, but whether it changes ownership depends on WBD's split and the eventual regulatory and board processes.

The trend: Streaming-era media consolidation is increasingly being shaped by the certainty and funding structure of bids as much as by their stated enterprise value.

Discussion

NewsMax.com Dawn Chmielewski on x
Netflix's $82.7B All-Cash Warner Bid Wins Board Support
@brianstelter Brian Stelter on x
Netflix and Warner say this “simplifies the transaction structure, provides greater certainty of value for WBD stockholders, and accelerates the path to a WBD stockholder vote.” Of course, Paramount has been anticipating this move...
@brianstelter Brian Stelter on x
Breaking: In the ongoing struggle over the future of Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix says it is now prepared to pay all cash for Warner Bros. and HBO, rather than a mix of cash and stock. https://www.cnn.com/...
@badcapitalvc Arjun Malhotra on x
Netflix spent $17 billion on original content in 2023 alone, trying to own the market with high-budget exclusives. Disney, Warner Bros, and Paramount leveraged decades of content libraries and IP. Meanwhile, YouTube just let creators upload whatever they wanted and won anyway. [i…
@xpangler Todd Spangler on x
Also as part of the revised deal terms, Netflix agreed to reduce the specified amount of net debt to be borne by Discovery Global — the cable TV networks entity to be spun off prior to Netflix's takeover of WB studios and HBO Max — by $260 million https://variety.com/...
@xpangler Todd Spangler on x
Netflix's original bid included $59 billion in debt financing from three banks: Wells Fargo, BNP and HSBC. That was reduced to $34.0 billion as of Dec. 19. With Netflix's new all-cash offer, that will increase to $42.2 billion, per a Netflix SEC filing. https://variety.com/...
About Netflix About Netflix on x
Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery Amend Agreement to All-Cash Transaction
@profpaulnary Paul Nary on x
1/ The winners from a revised, all-cash $NFLX bid, just like in most bidding contests, are $WBD shareholders (at least probably, for now) If $PSKY is still in the fight for $WBD, they need to improve their offer. After all, the burden on them is to deliver a “Superior Proposal”
@lucas_shaw Lucas Shaw on x
“YouTube is not just UGC and cat videos anymore,” Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos says on a call with analysts. “They are TV.” Reminder, Ted less than a year ago: [Headline: “Ted Sarandos Says Netflix Is in the ‘Spending Time Business’ vs. YouTube's ‘Killing Time’ Business"]

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