Activist Investor Ancora Challenges Netflix's $82.7B Warner Bros. Discovery Acquisition
Netflix's $82.7 billion acquisition bid for Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) is encountering substantial opposition from activist investor Ancora Holdings. The investment group has disclosed a $200 million stake in WBD and publicly announced its opposition to the Netflix offer, instead backing a competing proposal from Paramount.
In a press release issued Wednesday, Ancora articulated its alignment with Paramount's position, asserting that the Netflix transaction presents inferior value proposition, elevated regulatory risk exposure, and reduced immediate cash liquidity for shareholders compared to alternative options.
The timing of Ancora's intervention is particularly significant, coming just one day after Paramount enhanced its competitive bid. The improved offer includes:
• A quarterly payment of $0.25 per share for each quarter the transaction remains pending beyond December 31, 2026
• A commitment to assume the $2.8 billion termination fee payable to Netflix should WBD shareholders elect Paramount's proposal
While Ancora's equity position may be relatively modest in absolute terms, the firm is actively pursuing a shareholder mobilization strategy to block the Netflix transaction. The activist investor has issued a warning that failure by the WBD board to reconsider Paramount's proposal will result in a vote against the Netflix deal and efforts to hold the board accountable at the company's 2026 annual meeting.
However, Ancora faces significant headwinds in its campaign. WBD recently disclosed that over 93% of shareholders voted in favor of the Netflix transaction last month, rejecting what the company characterized as Paramount's inferior proposal.
The outcome remains uncertain. Should Ancora successfully persuade a critical mass of shareholders to reverse their positions, the dynamics of this high-stakes M&A transaction could shift dramatically, introducing additional volatility and complexity to an already contentious acquisition process.
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